A Book By Its Cover
by KarmaLeafbarer
Summary: A new citizen arrives in Neopia and finds herself tangled up with someone she never expected and who Neopia in general would not approve of...
1. Getting Settled

SHORT DISCLAIMER -- I don't own any of the neopets characters...they're (c) the wunnerful people at neopets.com. Karma Leafbarer is an anthropormorphic yellow tree frog for those of you wondering....and if you don't like the insertion of owners other than humans in neopets fiction, you can all kiss me bum. =D  
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A Book By Its Cover  
  
  
Karma fidgeted nervously in front of the desk, watching as the fair-skinned water faerie read over her application. She seemed to be taking more than her sweet time, as though she was hanging on every word the anthro frog had written. "Does she KNOW she's driving me crazy??" Karma wondered to herself, feeling a bead of nervous perspiration slip down the back of her neck. At long last, after what felt like an eternity had passed, the faerie's sapphire eyes lifted to drill into Karma's own.   
  
"So tell me...what would you contribute as a citizen of Neopia?" the faerie inquired, her silver brows lifting a bit. Karma had known this question would come, but it blindsided her none the less as her mind desperately fished for ideas.  
  
"Well..." the frog began, beginning to toy with a lock of her brown hair. "I'm willing to work hard, I plan to help people, and I'll take care of my pets...." she paused, studying the faerie's face for any sign of approval.   
  
"That's not quite what I meant." she replied gently, but with a hint of firmness. "We've had a large increase in our crime rate lately, Ms..." she glanced at the form again. "Leafbarer. And we're doing our best to put a cap on the new people coming in to make sure that we don't have any further troubles. If we can't keep neopia a safe and fun environment, then there's no point in there being a neopia at all, if you know what I mean."  
  
"Yes ma'am, I understand." Karma nodded. There was a pregnant pause as the two of them regarded one another solemnly before the water faerie smiled slightly.  
  
"I don't see why we can't try you." she said at last. "You seem honest enough, really." Karma opened her mouth to thank her interviewer but was silenced by another sharp glance. "BUT--" she continued. "keep in mind that our rules are easy to follow and breaking them is not tolerated. If you're imprisoned because you've blatantly broken a law, don't try to appeal to me or anyone else. You've read over the rules and regulations of neopia, yes?" Karma gave a quick nod. "I won't bore you by going over them again then."   
  
Karma watched with fluttering excitement as the faerie waved her hand, making a slip of pink carbon paper appear with a red number emblazoned on it. She recognized it as a registration code....she was in! "Take this to the city hall." she instructed. "They'll assign you your new living quarters and get you started. After you get settled in, you're free to do what you like."  
  
"Thank you." Karma breathed, shakily reaching for the paper. As her fingers closed around it, she felt a surge of triumph pass through her. Finally....after reading about neopia and hearing about it from friends who had visited or been accepted as citizens, she was about to embark on her own.  
  
"Safe journey." the water faerie called after Karma as she got up from the chair she had been sitting on the edge of ever since the interview had begun. The frog gave a wave over her shoulder as she hurried out, eager to get started. The water faerie watched her go before sighing and picking up a clipboard with the list of pending citizens yet to be interviewed on it. It was going to be a long day.  
  
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~  
  
It had been two long hours of waiting in line, pushing, shoving, and dickering, but at last, Karma's tiresome duties of getting started were coming to an end as she fitted the key she had been given into the lock of her neohome's door. It slid in with no trouble and turned easily as she turned the knob and entered. The apartment was bare but seemed roomy enough...definately enough to live on. She already was mentally planning out where she'd put the bed and the sofa....  
  
But there'd be plenty of time for that later. She had no doubt that she'd end up sleeping on the floor for the night, but right now she had her mind on other things...for one, heading to the stockhouse and selecting her first pet. She reached into her pocket, smiling as she withdrew the plastic bag of neopoints she had been handed with the rest of her welcome package. They were unfamiliar from the usual currency she used in her previous home. They were thinner than normal coins and gold in color, each of the 10 of them emblazoned with a "50". "So these are neopoints." she thought to herself, trying the word out. It sounded strange, but she supposed she'd get used to it.   
  
Pocketing them again, she moved her attention to the box of items she had been given in City Hall that they seemed to be handing out to everyone. She opened the flaps, peering inside and felt her heart sink. One of her free gifts, what looked to have been a cookie dough slush, had melted and spilled over her other items, ruining the book and fuzzle she had been given. She gave a disgusted sigh and set the box aside, quickly forcing herself to brighten again.  
  
No big deal, after all....if they gave the same items to everyone who joined, they couldn't have been terribly valuable. What was really on her mind right now was heading to the pet stockhouse and picking out her first baby. It had taken her months of debating on which kind of neopet to get back when she had started making plans to move to Neopia. At first, the obvious answer had been an elegant peophin. She had bought a handbook regarding the pros and cons of every neopet in existance, and had been entranced by the beautiful photographs of the faerie peophins she had seen....but after thinking it over a bit more carefully, and knowing her chances of ever coming by a faerie paint brush ("Highly sought-after and rare" the book had said) were nothing.  
  
And so she had decided, with great difficulty, that her first pet would be either a kougra or a lupe. Not, so much, for the fact that they were popular, but because they were reputed as loving and protective pets...and given that she was a stranger in a strange land, they sounded just like what she was looking for. Casting one last look at the gooey mess inside the box she had been given, Karma got to her feet and stretched, already beginning to form a mental image of what her new neopet would look like as she bounded out of her apartment, closing and locking the door behind her.  
  
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~  
  
The pet stockhouse was packed...hundreds of baby neopets of all colors and breeds were displayed in large pens with people loudly clamoring for them. Karma sifted through the crowd as best as she could, the thick smell of sweat and sawdust making her eyes water as she eagerly sought the kougra source. At last, over the heads of some significantly younger neopians, she could make out the colorful flashes of striped pelt as the pen-ful of spunky kittens rolled and played with one another.  
  
"That one! I want that one!" a young boy cried, pointing a finger at a red female lounging on her back near the large food dish that had been emptied by her and her littermates only moments before.  
  
"I want him!!" a fat young man with his mouth full of potato chips cried, pointing wildly at a green male as it loped past and pounced on a blue cub. The cries for the pets battered the room in a constant clamor as the attendants scurried to unite the pets with their new owners. Though it seemed that, despite the hundreds of crying and pointing people, the number of neopets never once diminished from the pen.   
  
As Karma pondered over this, one of the pen attendants, a red-haired human man with a wirey mustache smiled at her. "You've been standing there awhile...can I help you?" he called to her above the din of the stockhouse. Karma was startled to be addressed personally and eyed the cubs, now feeling obligated to choose one.   
  
"I was just looking..." she called back, her eyes searching the cubs as they bounded and played with one another. They were all adorable but none of them seemed to call out to her as being her companion. And it seemed as quickly as she could settle her eyes on one, it had already been scooped up and given to someone else. The man, instead of looking annoyed, simply smiled and returned to his work. Personally, Karma didn't know how he could stand it and knew she would go crazy quickly if she were fitted with his job.  
  
She watched a few minutes more as the scramble for the kougra cubs continued before passing by the pen. She was beginning to feel claustrophobic in the cramped stockhouse and took a deep breath, telling herself to calm down. She would find her perfect pet eventually, it was just a matter of patience and---  
  
KER-SPLOOSH!!!  
  
The frog gasped, suddenly enveloped in freezing water as a green flotsam, playfully cackling in a nearby tank teeming with flotsam hatchlings, swam back to the bottom of the tank in looping acrobatics. At the same time, a little girl giggled and announced that she wanted the jokester as her pet. Karma sputtered, grabbing the hem of her shirt and wringing the droplets out with a degree of humiliation.   
  
Alright...maybe now WASN'T the best time to look for a pet. She decided she'd come back late at night when most of the younger people had gone to bed. Trying to be heard above the clamor and having the pets that caught her fancy being snatched out from under her nose was getting highly irritating. With some difficulty, she muscled her way out of the crowded stockhouse and manuevered back outside, taking a deep breath of the fresh air.  
  
Around her, owners played with their new pets, giggling and excitedly chattering to one another as they led their new charges back to their respective homes and such. Karma silently envied them, but promised herself she wouldn't compete with that many people and end up settling for something mediocre. She wanted the perfect companion. A friend for life and someone that she could share all her most personal thoughts with and not fear rejection.  
  
The mild aroma of someone's clove cigarette laced her nose and she wrinkled her snout in disgust. Who on earth could be smoking around so many young kids and pets?? Her eyes skated over the crowd, prepared to leer at the offending party. After a moment, she had singled him out and was surprised that it was an anthro creature like herself, though looked to be a breed of neopet or what once was one. The yellow lizard was seated on the front steps of a ramshackle building, his white hair in a gnarled mop on his head as he idly smoked, eyeing those who passed with contempt in his eyes.   
  
The passersby seemed to give him a wide berth and pets cringed as they passed....Karma decided that this figure was one that was generally not well-liked, though she didn't know why. Did he make a habit out of skulking in doorways and blowing clove-scented smoke into people's faces? He felt her eyes on him and glared at her icily.  
  
"What're you looking at?" he growled. She instantly felt a sense of forboding and turned her eyes to the ground.   
  
"Sorry." she muttered. "I was just thinking---"   
  
"Go do it somewhere else then." he spat. "I have enough problems as it is." Karma fixed her face into a frown, not caring for the lizard's tone with her. Her eyes fell on his cigarette.  
  
"That's bad for you, ya know." she told him.   
  
"I don't care." the lizard replied quickly, taking another drag and puffing it out of his nostrils. "I've heard it all, toots. Cancer, ruined vocal cords, bad for my lungs...there's nothing you can tell me that I've never heard before. Scram." Karma paused, blinking in bewilderment. How RUDE!!  
  
"Just who are you anyway?" she asked.  
  
"What? Were you born in a cave or something?" the yellow lizard inquired. Karma sniffed indignantly in reply.   
  
"I'm new if that's what you mean...." she shot back. "And if this is how you treat people, its no mystery why you don't have any friends."  
  
"Maybe I don't WANT any friends. Maybe people annoy me." the lizard replied, shrugging.   
  
"Your choice." she replied acidly. They dueled with their eyes for a moment.  
  
"My name's Dr. Death." he told her matter-of-factly. "No first name, before you ask."   
  
"You act like I'm going to grill you or something." Karma muttered, crossing her arms over her chest. The lizard puffed on his cigarette again and then tossed the butt to the ground, crushing it beneath his heel.  
  
"You wouldn't be the first." he grumbled. "That's all I get around here." he turned to walk away upon saying this.   
  
"Where're you going?" Karma inquired, not nastily this time but simply curious. He flinched and looked over his shoulder at her.  
  
"Back to my job. At the pound. Likely you'll hear of me soon. I'm the "bad man that takes pets away" and all that lovely bunk." he said, giving a flick of his tail as he continued on his way. Karma, instead of staying where she was, followed after him. She wasn't sure if it was her intrigue in this bitter character in itself or her desire to see the pound but she managed to trail him all the way back to a large and dingy-looking building standing a short distance off of the pet stockhouse. Inside came the piteous wails and barks of what sounded to be a great number of pets.  
  
The yellow lizard climbed the three steps of the porch and disappeared inside with a bang of the screen door. Karma hesitated a moment and then followed after him. As she stepped into the building, the first thing to hit her was the musty odor of long-kept creatures...the same smell that overcomes one when they enter a dog pound on a rainy day. The yellow lizard was settling behind his desk as he noticed her approach. He opened his mouth to speak...likely to ask what she thought she was doing following him, but was interrupted.  
  
"Well hello there, dear!" a kindly voice bubbled as a pink unicorn trotted forward, giving a toss of her cotton candy-colored mane. "Can I help you?"  
  
"Actually I---" the uni frowned.  
  
"Why, you don't seem to have ANY neopets yet!" she exclaimed, sounding surprised. Karma nodded and stuffed her hands into her pockets.   
  
"Is that a bad thing? I can leave if you want...I didn't want to cause trouble..." the yellow lizard rolled his eyes as if to say that was the single most idiotic thing he had ever heard.  
  
"Oh you're not!!!" the uni insisted, giving Karma a nudge toward the back. "Tell you what...why don't we go in the back and see if any of these poor souls might be your special friend?" Karma looked over her shoulder at Dr. Death again.  
  
"But what about him?" she asked.  
  
"Don't you worry about that old grumpy techo..." the uni poshed, giggling. "He's happy enough to be causing misery."   
  
"Yeah he said something about that too, but what's that supposed to mean?" Karma asked, still staring at Dr. Death even as a young girl with her hair pulled back in a ponytail edged up to the desk, a red acara cowering behind her legs and trembling. Karma could see the hashmark outlines of its ribs against his pelt and it likely hadn't been fed in days.   
  
"Like, I need to give up little Creamypuffle here." she said, looking around the pound and wrinkling her nose up at the unkept state of the front room. The acara looked horror stricken as it cowered behind its mistress's ankles, apparently unaware that the one he was seeking protection from was the same one who was giving him up.  
  
"I see." Dr. Death hissed, setting his papers aside with eerie slowness as he glowered up at her. The look in his eyes made Karma uncomfortable as he roughly seized an "Incoming" slip from the wire basket to his right and began to fill it out. "And why are we giving up little Creamypuffle?" he asked accusingly. The blonde looked at him like he had gone utterly crazy.  
  
"Like, DUH!! Have you been living in a cave or something?? Heh...no wait, you probably do." she tittered at her own "wit". "Its all over the news! There's like, supposed to be a new neopet available soon and I totally want to be the first to have it!" She cast a look down at her acara for a moment as though she was considering her decision, but then reached down, picked the trembling pet up, and hoisted up on the counter. "And 'sides...I like, don't have time to feed a pet EVERY day. I need some, like, independant pets or something."  
  
"You, madam, aren't fit to own ANY pets." Dr. Death snarled, his hand betraying him as his handwriting dissolved into angry scribbles toward the end of the form before he stood and seized the acara off of the counter. It gave a startled yelp and struggled in his arms. "Leave the payment with my assistant." he spat before storming into the back with the struggling, crying acara. The blonde stood a moment, as though awestruck by what had just happened, and then shrugged and walked out of the pound without paying the fee.  
  
"How cruel..." Karma muttered, flabberghasted. The uni nuzzled her hand reassuringly.  
  
"He's really not, dear, but he has a large temper problem." the pink beast began to explain. "And really--"  
  
"I wasn't talking about him." Karma interrupted. "Do you guys get lots of owners like that in here?"   
  
"Well, yes...." the uni replied, sounding a bit off-center about it. "But its not our job to question why they're giving them up as it is to make sure the pet finds a new home. It seems the good doctor forgets that sometimes." she smiled. "But anyway...if you come this way, we have all sorts of neopets looking for new homes." she prattled on, nudging Karma through a swinging door and into a large warehouse-type building where, in ten isles, were cages lined up, all fitted with animals. There had to be more than a hundred of them, Karma thought to herself. Upon seeing her, the pets began to straighten up and call out hopefully.   
  
"Pick me! Pick me! Oh won't you please choose me?? I've been here for a week! A week?? HA! I've been here for three months!!" the barrage of hopeful noise made Karma avert her eyes in shame, knowing she wouldn't be able to save all of them and it made her feel incredibly guilty. Never the less, she found herself moving forward, her eyes scanning the cages from which all sorts of pets reached out to her with hopeful paws/flippers/claws.   
  
"I'll be up front if you make a choice." the uni informed her cheerfully as she turned and walked away....though it sounded to Karma that she was a bit uncomfortable. Well, who wouldn't be? So many voices crying out...how horrible it must have been to work there! She stopped for a moment to examine a spotted pteri that sat in the corner of its cage. The bird lifted his head and looked at her a moment before giving a shriek and snapping at her against the bars, its beak closing loudly on nothing.  
  
"Go AWAY!!!" the bird roared. "I'm not abandoned!! My master will come back for me!!" Karma compulsively backed away as the pteri continued to rave and rant about its master and how it wasn't really abandoned. The poor thing had gone crazy in its time there from its abandonment. She felt tears sting her eyes and moaned softly, overcome with pity for the neopet.  
  
"And now you know how *I* feel." a familiar voice from behind her stated. She turned, wiping hurriedly at her eyes to see Dr. Death standing behind her, arms crossed and a sordid look of triumph on his face at her being distraught over the captive pets. "You think its hard to walk in here once to look them over? I've been working here for almost five years...I get to drag pets into the back that nobody wants and have to try and find good homes for them all. It gets to you after awhile."   
  
"I thought that the uni..." Karma began.  
  
"RoseMadder and I have the same job....but being that she looks friendlier and doesn't let her occupation bug her as much, she's reputed as being the hero that finds pets homes. I can find you a pet just as well as she can." Karma looked at him doubtfully and shook her head.  
  
"I somehow doubt that." Dr. Death, gritting his teeth in anger, started toward her.  
  
"Now you listen to me...just because I---" he was cut off by a sharp ding from the front desk.  
  
"Hel-LO!! Anybody in there??" a nasal and rude voice inquired. The techo regarded her a moment longer before turning and heading up front. Karma waited, sure that the exchange was not over by a longshot as she heard the exchange of words, the end of the conversation ultimately marked by the squealing and begging of the neopet being handed over and the door being opened again. Dr. Death stepped in, clutching a white rabbit with a blue neckruff that was weeping openly.  
  
"Mommy!! I want my mommy!! Mommy come back!!!" he wailed. Without pausing, Dr. Death shoved the crying pet into Karma's arms.   
  
"There." he said with venom in his voice. "I found you a pet. Are you happy now?? Go away!" Karma, startled, looked down at the bunny whose sobs were starting to taper off into sniffles as he goggled up at her. The collar around his neck bore a tag reading "yahoo44".   
  
"...where's mommy...?" the bunny whispered. Dr. Death, apparently disgusted with the whole ordeal, stormed back up front and left Karma alone with the animal.   
  
"Your mommy left...she couldn't take care of you anymore." Karma told the neopet softly, trying not to upset him any further. "But I can care for you if you want..." the bunny studied her a long moment with large glistening eyes.  
  
"I want my mommy..." he said firmly.   
  
"I can take care of you..." she offered again, reaching up to gently skritch the rabbit between its ears. Yahoo purred softly, his back leg kicking reflexively. For the past two weeks, his owner had lodged him in Cockroach Towers to be cared for...and while he was fed and had the option of playing in the arcade, it had been awhile since he had been petted or loved. Seeing that the bunny wasn't going to put up a further protest, Karma snuggled him more firmly against her and carried him carefully to the front.   
  
Dr. Death, already situated again behind his desk, glared at her from the corner of his eye as she approached. Before she had a chance to ask him for the adoption papers, she felt a warm muzzle poke over her shoulder.   
  
"Oh!! A cybunny!! You're a lucky girl, aren't you??" RoseMadder bubbled as she noticed the pet in Karma's arms. "We don't get many of those in here do we, Doctor?" she asked, turning her smile in Dr. Death's direction. The techo snorted and returned to his paperwork. "Well, you come over here and we'll get you and your new friend all ready to go." Rose continued, motioning Karma toward her side of the desk where she began preparing a form to be filled out, signing the neopet legally over into its new home.  
  
After a few simple questions and signatures, Karma found herself the proud owner of the cybunny. "We hope you'll come back if you ever decide to have a second pet!" RoseMadder told her as she turned to go.   
  
"We'll see that cybunny again in a week, you just wait." Dr. Death growled at Rose, but meant for Karma to hear. His words stung, but Karma forced herself to leave without firing a retort. She had argued enough with the techo for one evening, she decided, as she left the pound in a huff.  
  
"You didn't have to be so obnoxious to her..." Rose told Dr. Death huffily. "She's new, after all."  
  
"She said as though I cared." the techo mocked. Rose shook her head.  
  
"Someday you'll look around and find yourself all alone...and I bet you'll wonder why." she sighed. The doctor didn't answer as he fixed his eyes on a meek-looking boy who sidled up to the desk, a rather mean-looking skeith in tow.   
  
"H-Hi....is this where you put your pets in the pound?" he asked. He had several bite marks on his arms and a bandage over his forehead. Behind him, the skeith grinned deviously up at Dr. Death, baring its needle-like teeth as the two pound-managers exchanged an uneasy look.  
  
"You're not going to give this one the third degree?" Rose inquired as the doctor reached for an abandonment form.  
  
"Sometimes, even *I* can see when something needs to be done." Dr. Death sighed.  
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~  
  
"Thanks..." Yahoo44 whispered as Karma entered the apartment, the white bunny still propped on her shoulder. Karma smiled. It was the first time the cybunny had spoken to her since they had left the pound.   
  
"Not a problem." she assured Yahoo, giving him a brief hug before setting him down. The cybunny cast a look about the apartment, his nose working the stale air. "I know its not much right now, Yahoo, but I just got here today."   
  
"It'll work." the neopet shrugged. "As long as there's a sleeping bag or something..." Karma felt her stomach clench, wondering if there WAS a sleeping bag. Maybe she should have waited before bringing a pet into her home when it was so sparsely furnished. "Try the closet?" he suggested when she didn't move. Her eyes turned to the hall closet and she realized she hadn't checked it yet as she made her way toward it and opened it. Inside, folded against the wall were four cots and a number of pillows and blankets sitting on the shelf. Below them was a slightly dusty card that read "For our temporary tenants only...please do not take these items with you when you move out!"  
  
"Guess these are for us." Karma said aloud to Yahoo.  
  
"Ayup." the cybunny smirked, stretching a bit. "I think I could get used to this...you know, it was scary leaving at first but I have a good feeling." He smiled up at Karma. "Last time I had a good feeling, I found a thousand neopoints under one of the Scorchy Slots machines."   
  
"Well, let's hope this one's just as good." Karma chuckled as she hoisted a cot out of the closet and set it on the carpet, fumbling with the folded legs. Yahoo watched placidly as she set it up and wrestled a blanket out of the closet to fluff over it. When she was finished, she looked over her work a moment. "I gotta get some real furniture in here...but not with only four hundred neopoints."  
  
"We can go to the game room tomorrow..." Yahoo suggested, stepping forward and leaping onto the cot, circling once and flopping onto his belly. "If you learn how to do it right, you can make big money playing Meerca Chase."  
  
"You sure know a lot about Neopia." Karma remarked. The cybunny pricked his ears.  
  
"Mommy was a big fan of games..." Yahoo replied softly, his eyes misting over. For a moment, it looked like he was going to cry but he got himself under control again. "If you don't mind, I'm kind of tired." he told Karma. "Is it okay if I sleep now?"   
  
"Of course." Karma smiled, reaching down to skritch him between the ears again. Yahoo purred his appreciation. and then settled his head onto his paws and closed his eyes. The frog watched him a moment until she was sure he was sleeping and then got up, her interest shifting from her new pet to the doctor in the pound.   
  
She didn't know why she thought of him so adamently, really....so he was a misunderstood crackpot, so what? So was she. And then it hit her...  
  
"Ahh no, Karma....not him." she scolded herself, slapping her forehead. It all clicked into place....her inexplicable following him back to the pound, her unsureness around him. She had a crush on him. This was far from the first time something like this had happened either...she seemed to, more often than not, fall for men who were either unobtainable or completely not right for her....but the bright side to it was usually after she got to know them better, she lost all interest in them.  
  
Likely, the same thing was going to happen here. She imagined it would only take one or two more run-ins with the grouchy techo to change her mind in a hurry. After all, he was old enough to be her father, first of all, and probably had no interest in contact from another person at all.   
  
Yes...things would sort themselves out, she was certain, as she stifled a yawn behind her hand. Yahoo had the right idea, she decided, as she went to the closet again, taking out a cot for herself and padding it with a blanket and pillow. As she settled down into it, she smiled and decided that her first day in Neopia hadn't been entirely bad at all as she cast one last look at her new neopet before allowing herself to drift off to sleep.  
  
  
TBC... 


	2. Looks are Decieving

Karma awoke the next morning to Yahoo nosing her cheek gently. She groaned and turned over, her back sore from the stiff cot she had slept on. "Mmmwhat?" the frog asked groggily.  
  
"I'm hungry." the cybunny complained. "Could we go get something to eat?" Karma opened her mouth to answer only to hear an answering growl from her belly, stifling any complaints she might have had about sleeping in a little longer.  
  
"Sure...where do you want to go?" she inquired. The cybunny grinned in reply.  
  
"I was thinking the omelette. Not cuz we're poor, but I could really go for some eggs." Karma sat up, stretching and yawning.  
  
"Alright...lemme grab a shower and then you lead the way."   
  
"Yeah!" Yahoo cheered as he scampered into what would probably be the living room and sat down to wait as Karma stood and shuffled off into the bathroom. As soon as the door closed, Yahoo gave an energetic hop, wondering if he could reach the ceiling in the small apartment. He hit the floor with a thud and pouted. He had ALMOST made it...   
  
As he attempted again, coming closer but missing, there came an angry pounding from beneath his feet.   
  
"Keep it down up there, dammit!!" a voice growled. Yahoo felt a blush rise in his cheeks as he seated himself on the carpeting and made himself simply wait for Karma. No sense in getting them tossed out on their rears, after all.   
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~  
  
Karma, after ten minutes or so, stepped out of the shower and toweled off, pulling on her clothes again. Alright, so it had been decided that part of the day would be taken up on a trek to Tyrannia...and after that she supposed the chips would have to fall where they may. She looked at herself in the mirror and wrinkled her nose in distaste, reaching for the small plastic hairbrush sitting on the sink. It had surprised her that, despite lack of furnishings, they had provided such creature comforts as cots, blankets, soap, shampoo, and even a hairbrush.   
  
As she combed her hair, she began making plans. First they would go Tyrannia for breakfast....after that, they'd hit the gaming room for awhile so that she could try and replenish her sorry amount of neopoints and then maybe stop at the pound again because maybe Yahoo would like a friend---  
  
She caught herself and laughed lightly. No...she wouldn't be pulled in by THAT excuse her mind was making. In fact, she decided it was in her best interest to stay far away from the pound for a few days until things settled down.   
  
"Karma!! Are you almost done in there?" Yahoo called from the living room, sounding impatient.   
  
"Almost!" she called back, quickly finishing her hair and pulling it back with the velvet tie she kept with her as she bustled out of the room.  
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~  
  
The alarm clock blared on Dr. Death's nightstand as he groaned and reached out, swatting at it haphazardly until his palm found the snooze button and silenced its incessant buzz before sitting up. The first thought that came to his mind, as it did every day, was that he didn't want to go to work. He hated his job...and had tried to resign several times but had always been coaxed into staying by someone or other with the excuse that it would be hard for him to find another job given his present reputation and that it would be even harder to train someone else to take over his position and handle it as well as he did.   
  
He eyed his reflection in the mirror on his dresser from where he sat in bed, sighing with disapproval. His gray hair had come in uncommonly early, making him look decades older than he was. He doubt people would believe that he was really in his late twenties and not that long out of Neopian Medical School, which he had continued to attend despite his newfound career at the pound some odd five years ago.  
  
How quickly everything had gone to hell...his aspiration had been to work in the Neopian Hospital but his scores on the exams had been beaten out by an older green gelert and an enthusiastic blue elephante and he had left the medical field, with the title of a doctor, but no position to fill it with. The bitterness of it all had destroyed the cheery outlook on life that most neopets were famous for and he had been feeling it the rest of his life.   
  
The pound had seemed like a good prospect at the time and gave him an opportunity to deal with all sorts of people and neopets...but the charm of uniting pets with new owners had fast been outweighed by the sheer frustration of being left with more neopets than he could keep track of by careless owners. In the end, he was a shadow of what he had once been. He didn't even go by his real name anymore and instead the nickname assigned to him by many of the pound's inhabitants.  
  
Dr. Death, after a few more moments of mental debate, sighed and pulled himself out of bed, running a hand through his disheveled hair and began contemplating a hot shower as he headed for his bathroom. Twenty minutes later he emerged, toweled off and pulled on his usual pair of black slacks and grey turtleneck he wore beneath his white labcoat at the pound and gave himself a cursory glance in the mirror before heading out.   
  
As he closed the door to his neohome behind himself and locked it, he cringed at the sound of a familiar voice.  
  
"He-Hey! Its the Death Doctor! So, how many pets ya gonna kill today, bud??" an obese tuskaninny asked, sitting on his porch and sipping at a rainbow slushie. The doctor and Jespie had been neighbors for almost a year and ever since the overgrown sack of blubber had found out what he did for a living, he had constantly hounded him for it. More often than not, his day began with a fight with Jespie, despite his efforts to ignore him.  
  
"Looking good, slim." Dr. Death replied sarcastically as he tugged the knob to ensure the door was locked and turned to leave. Maybe he could get out of earshot before Jespie said anything especially obnoxious today.  
  
"So...has Doctor Sloth gotten back with ya yet on that apprenticeship? Or are ya still trying to overthrow him as Neopia's biggest jackass?" Jespie called after him. Dr. Death clenched his teeth against the retort welling up in his throat. One day he would just simply snap, he decided, and all of Neopia could read about Dr. Death finally living up to his name after they found Jespie's tattered remains strung up the Pants Devil's flagpole. Rapture. He quickened his walk a bit, hearing Jespie call something else after him but, much to his relief, he couldn't understand what it had been.  
  
He had lucked out and had been able to establish his residence within walking distance of the pound...he didn't know what sorts of abuse he might have had to put up with if he had to take the bus to work. As he walked, he reached into the breast pocket of his labcoat and withdrew the slightly-crushed box of cigarettes he carried. More than anything, they were just a bad habit but they were calming as he fumbled one out of the box and poked it into his mouth, patting at his pants pockets for his lighter.   
  
"Tsk...those are going to be the death of you." The doctor whirled to see RoseMadder behind him, smirking indulgantly as though he were a disobediant child.   
  
"Sometimes I wish." he told her, as he found what he was looking for and went about lighting his cigarette. The pink uni snorted as the pungeant aroma of burning paper and cloves invaded her nostrils. "Don't start." he warned her. "I've had enough of your health lectures."  
  
"I'm just trying to help." she replied. "Is it so wrong to worry about you? You'd think I'd earned at least THAT "esteemed privelege" working with you for two years."  
  
"I'd hate to ruin your pristine reputation."   
  
"Oh hush." she chuckled, passing his remark off as a joke though deep down she knew he wasn't. Things had always been rough between the two of them but Rose had always managed to keep a smile on her face. "Hey I have an idea. Why don't we switch desks today?" she suggested. "I'll take the abandoned pets, and you adopt them out. Would that get a smile out of you?"   
  
"And maybe the pant devil will open up his own money tree." the techo replied. Rose shook her head, deciding that this wouldn't be one of the rare occasions she would be able to put him in a good mood.   
  
"You know what you need?" she blurted. Dr. Death winced, knowing what she was going to say, because she had said it before and he wasn't liking it any better. "You need somebody to take care of you."   
  
"I'm not a pet anymore, in case you've noticed." the techo snarled, pausing to take a drag on his cigarette. "I've not been a pet for quite some time and I'm nearly twice the size of most of the owners running around this crowded cesspool!"  
  
"Oh no, not an owner." she laughed. "Why haven't you found yourself a nice lady to settle down with, Doctor?" she prodded. "There's got to be thousands of lonely girls out there." Dr. Death had never heard anything quite this ridiculous from her before. He couldn't help it and burst into laughter.  
  
"That's your solution to everything, Rose." he snickered. "Love and cuddles. In fact, I'll bet we could bring about world peace if we just all get together for a big group hug and then--" Rose, having heard enough, quickened her pace until she was walking ahead of him and gave an indignant toss of her mane. His laughter quickly dried up as he finished his cigarette and tossed the filter to the sidewalk. The pound's tar-papered roof was in view between the gaudy pet stockhouse and the Coffee shop. Another minute or so and he'd be walking up the steps to the building and swallowed up inside for the day.   
  
"Mommy look! Its the bad man from the pound!" a young usul exclaimed as he passed by, his owner, a black-haired girl, towing him along.   
  
"Don't stare, Meeka." she commanded as she cast a slightly frightened look over her shoulder at him before they hurried away. Dr. Death sighed. Another typical day was about to begin.  
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~  
  
Yahoo happily munched on his large portion of cheese omelette, getting crumbs of it all over his blue neckruff and heedless to the mess he was making. Karma had eaten most of her carrot and pea omelette before she had gotten full and pushed it aside. It now resided on the corner of Yahoo's plate which he seemed to have full intention of wolfing down as soon as he was finished with his own. She wondered idly where he was putting it all as he paused to burp softly behind his paw.  
  
"I don't think I've had a decent meal in days." he told her. "If I had to eat one more jello square, I think I'd have turned into one."  
  
"It shows." she smiled as he resumed eating. "So tell me about yourself." she prompted, suddenly feeling as though she was on a very bad date. The cybunny started to talk with his mouth full, and when he found he couldn't speak, swallowed and tried again.  
  
"Nothing to tell really...I came from the stockhouse with a little girl as an easter present, she dropped me in favor of a peophin, I got picked up again by some Battledome-obsessed newcomer who ran me ragged for a couple of days and then got dropped in the pound again. I honestly thought that Ashley was my last hope, which is why I panicked so bad when she abandoned me." he laughed a little. "I must have looked like such a dork." he stated.  
  
"I think I'd probably have done the same thing." she smiled. "And you're awfully eloquent for a neopet."   
  
"Yup....if Ashley did one thing right, it was that she read to me a lot." he stated, giving a small sigh. "I don't want to offend you, Karma, but I DO still miss her."  
  
"I imagine you will for awhile. Its alright." the frog assured her pet. And it was, really. She didn't expect Yahoo to simply forget about his previous owner just because she had been the next to have him. "Did they treat you alright in the pound?" she asked.  
  
"The two times I was there? Oh yeah...it was a little scary and it sure was cramped, but all in all its not like pets get destroyed or anything." he shrugged, picking a long string of cheese off of the top of his omelette and placing it in his mouth. "Sometimes they forgot to feed us and that was my biggest complaint."  
  
"What about that Dr. Death guy?"  
  
"The lizard?" the cybunny asked, swallowing his cheese. "Pretty creepy. I don't think I've ever seen him smile. Sometimes he'd come in late at night and he'd, I guess, give us his version of a peptalk. What it came across as was him telling us we all had idiots for owners and if we played our cards right, more idiots would come to take us home for awhile before we'd be tossed back in...." he leaned across the table and lowered his voice. "I think he'd been drinking those nights." he whispered.  
  
Karma laughed...she couldn't help herself. It was hard enough to take Dr. Death seriously with his constant looking like someone had given him a lemon-flavored swirly. Trying to think of him as being intoxicated was almost impossible.  
  
"You know anything else about him?" she asked. Yahoo opened his mouth to speak and closed it again, favoring her with an especially odd look.   
  
"Why're you so interested in that guy?" he asked.   
  
"Oh...no reason." she shrugged, hoping it looked casual enough. A mischevious look played over Yahoo's face.  
  
"Someone's obsessed." he grinned.   
  
"I'm not." she insisted. "But he was one of the first people I met when I got here and I got a pretty chilly reception. I'm just curious about him."  
  
"Get used to it." Yahoo nodded. "Everybody I've talked to says the guy's a complete creep...and on that note, I think I'll stop talking there. I've never been much for gossip. I'd like to leave that to the usuls and aishas if its all the same to you."  
  
"Or I wonder if its just hard to feed a talking mouth." Karma said, reaching out and giving the cybunny's nose a playful poke.  
  
"Yup that too." he agreed as he buried his face in his omelette again.  
  
About twenty minutes later, Yahoo finally decided he had gotten enough to eat and volunteered to take Karma to the gaming center to see about solving their neopoints problem. It was a surprisingly short trip on the bus and they were dropped off in front of a crowded-looking center. The yellow frog's eyes settled on what looked to be a casino from which the mechanical beeps and bops of the slot machines, nearly drowned out by the sound of clattering money and chattering voices, eminated.   
  
"Nah not there." Yahoo said, following her gaze. "C'mon. I'll show ya where the real money is." he said, motioning for her to follow. Karma had her doubts, but followed after him, deciding he HAD been in Neopia a lot longer than she had. They walked a short distance and then entered a building that stood apart from the others. It was dark inside and Karma could see several people huddled in booths. Yahoo led her around the corner and into a vacant booth with a headset that overlooked a large gray pen, in the middle of which was a yellow meerca, bouncing impatiently on his tail and wearing what looked to be an electric helmet on his head.  
  
"This is Meerca Chase. Once you get the hang of it, it pays off pretty well." Yahoo smiled as Karma sat down and applied the headphones.   
  
"Welcome." an automated voice greeted her through the phones. "If you've already played this game, please hit the red button on the console to skip this introduction." Karma eyed the console before her and reflexively reached for the red button before realizing that, no, she hadn't played this game before as she paused to listen. "The object of this game is to feed your meerca as many neggs as you can. The red neggs, which are some of the spiciest foods known to Neopians will render your meerca helpless and unable to continue. With every negg you eat, your meerca's tail grows a bit longer. If your meerca becomes tangled in his tail, he will be unable to continue and the game will be over as well. And finally, if your meerca hits a wall, the game will end. To control the meerca you see in the pen before you, hit the directional buttons." four triangular-shaped buttons glowed alight for a moment on the console to emphasize where they were. "The buttons will send the command to a speaker in the meerca's helmet and he will follow your lead. When you are ready to begin, hit the red button."   
  
Well, it seemed simple enough. Karma tentatively struck the red button and, from the open ceiling of the pen, a happiness negg suddenly dropped to the floor. The meerca instantly dashed toward it, his tongue hanging out hungrily. Karma watched as he devoured it, never once stopping and he looked to be heading straight for the wall. She quickly punched the left key and the meerca veered off to the left, narrowly missing the wall as another yellow negg dropped into the pen. The meerca, apparently not noticing it, continued on his way to the south wall. A few keystrokes and he was corrected and happily gobbled up the second negg, his tail growing a bit longer as he did so.   
  
Karma smiled...this wasn't very hard at all. As the meerca ate his fifth negg, however, things began to change. Two more ceiling panels opened, plopping two red neggs onto the floor along with a blue one. She navigated the obstacles as best as she could as her meerca continued to eat and his tail continued to grow. Yahoo watched wordlessly as she played, hoping the outcome would be good. At last, however, as the meerca scarfed down a green negg, a red negg was dropped right in front of him and before Karma could manuever him around it, he had grabbed it up and eaten it.   
  
"YEEOOOWWW!!!" the meerca cried, waving wildly at his mouth and crying out for water as the "Game Over" icon flashed overhead.  
  
"You have won 302 neopoints this round. Congratulations." the automated voice informed her as a piece of paper slid out of a slot on the top of the console. In neat black print, it read "Voucher -- 302". "Vouchers are redeemable at the front desk located in the lobby. Play again?"   
  
By the time her third game had ended, Karma and Yahoo walked away with nearly a thousand neopoints to add to the four hundred she had come in with. While Yahoo didn't look especially interested, Karma was utterly thrilled.  
  
"I can't believe it! I more than doubled my money and I didn't lose anything!" she told the cybunny.   
  
"Well, keep in mind that a thousand neopoints won't get you very far..." he tried to tell her. Karma, however, was clearly not listening.   
  
"Let's get some lunch!" she suggested, pointing in the direction of the food store. Yahoo, already starting to feel hungry again despite his enormous omelette breakfast, lit up instantly.  
  
"I call dibs on a chocolate shake!" he announced as the two of them ran toward the store.  
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~  
  
"And you're abandoning this kacheek, WHY??" Dr. Death sneered, glaring at the boy holding the pet's leash.   
  
"I don't want four pets anymore." he complained. "And this kacheek is stupid anyhow." Dr. Death flinched, forcing himself not to act on his impulse to take the owner and put him in a cage instead of the kacheek, who didn't look stupid at all. And rather than sobbing, the blue kacheek was simply staring at the floor, trying to be stoic as it awaited its fate.   
  
Dr. Death forced himself to keep a firm hold on his anger, as he had been doing for years. It seemed the owners didn't even bother to come up with reasonable excuses anymore. When he had first started out, he had sympathized with the teary-eyed owners that couldn't afford to feed their pet and wanted to give it a better chance with someone else but now....  
  
He finished filling out the abandonment sheet and collected the fee from the ex-owner before gathering the kacheek into his arms and carrying it into the back room. The boy, he heard, shot a final parting remark at the techo about how all kacheeks were stupid and he'd gotten that one from the stockhouse with intention to abandon it to begin with.   
  
"Don't hurt me.." the kacheek whispered once they had arrived in the jungle of cages and sobbing neopets. The blue creature was trembling in his arms yet still trying to be quiet and reserved.  
  
"I'm not going to hurt you." he told it curtly. "I'm putting you somewhere where you'll have a chance at an owner who's not quite as big of a nimrod as your last one was." The kacheek couldn't have been more than a baby....how could someone abandon a neopet so young?  
  
"I'm very afraid..." the blue kacheek whispered. "Is it going to hurt?"  
  
"Is what going to hurt?" the techo sighed, his eyes picking over the aisle of cages, looking for an empty one.  
  
"Dying." Dr. Death paused...staring down at the kacheek for a long moment.   
  
"That's ridiculous." he told the neopet. "You're not going to die." It cast its eyes downward.  
  
"My owner said nobody'd ever love me and I'd stay here till I died...or till you killed me." the kacheek's glance darted frightfully upward again to look at him as though trying to confirm this. Frankly, the doctor didn't know what to say as his brain raced for an answer. "....but its okay. As long as you don't make it hurt." the kacheek continued.  
  
Some inner restraint he had kept strong for years, wavered and then broke. Before he could stop it, or even acknowledge it was happening, his eyes stung with tears. "Mister?" the kacheek asked. "Mister, are you okay?" Dr. Death didn't answer....COULDN'T answer...as he strode quickly to a vacant cage, closed the kacheek inside, and turned and headed out.   
  
He had to get out of there....just for awhile.  
  
"Oh, nevermind, there he is." RoseMadder was telling someone waiting at the desk, a plump yellow kiko in their arms. "Oh Doctor, we have another incoming..." she began, her words trailing off as she noticed his bleary eyes and how he hurriedly moved toward the door. "Why, what's the matter?? Where're you going??" the pink uni gasped. Her questions were left unanswered as the yellow techo shoved open the door and was gone before it slammed shut again.  
  
Rose stared after him for a moment, trying to piece together what had just transpired. It wasn't like him to take a completely unsolicited break or to go storming away like a tantrumy shoyru.  
  
"Umm....I came at a bad time, huh?" the kiko owner asked.  
  
"Oh no, not at all!" Rose assured her. "I suppose I can deal with you if he can't...." she moved to sit behind the abandonment desk and the kiko owner noticeably flinched.   
  
"I think I'll come back later." she stated worriedly. RoseMadder looked confused.  
  
"But if you need to get rid of your pet, I don't think you'd want to prolong---" but the Kiko-owner had already turned away and was leaving. Now, what on earth...? And then her conversation an hour or two ago with the doctor floated back into her head.   
  
"I'd hate to ruin your pristine reputation..." He had said. It made sense now....the reason it seemed that owners didn't have a second thought about abandoning their neopets to Dr. Death was because of their ingrained dislike of him. They had grown accustomed to the idea that leaving their pet behind was almost like doing something to spite the yellow techo, but she bet that none of them would want to hurt HER feelings by abandoning their pet.   
  
She sighed, the realization stinging her. Maybe the doctor had been right all this time in his assumptions about the pound-visitors of Neopia. Maybe all of them WERE callous and hurtful individuals. She shook herself back to her senses. No! She couldn't let herself think that way. It just wasn't true. She was shaken out of her thoughts by the front door opening. Hmph...and she was going to prove it, right now, she decided as she turned a cheery smile on the person who came in. He had three red bruces in tow and spared Rose a smile as he headed for the abandonment desk and waited.   
  
Rose smiled back and headed over to the other desk, seating herself.   
  
"And who are we leaving today?" she asked gently. The man blinked, stunned, as the pink uni reached for an abandonment form.   
  
"Ahh...where's the doctor?" he asked.  
  
"Oh...out and about, I suppose. I don't know really, but no matter. I can help you." she smiled sweetly. He took a step backwards. "....sir?" she asked, pausing in mid-reach for a pen to take down the Bruces' information.  
  
"I think I'll come back another time." he told her. "Sorry to trouble you, ma'am..." RoseMadder made no attempt to stop him as she watched him leave as well. She felt empty....not angry, per-say....just extremely disappointed. She had always tried to believe that people who abandoned their pets did so out of there being no other choice....not just because it was convenient and certainly not with the intent of ruining another person's day.  
  
"Miz uni?" a small voice asked. She turned to see a young girl, barely old enough to reach the countertop, peering up at her. "Miz uni, do you have any pets left?" she asked. Rose smiled through her sadness, relieved to finally have an adopter amid the abandoners.   
  
"Right this way, my dear." she instructed, leading the little girl into the back to look at the assortment of neopets.  
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~  
  
Dr. Death had come to rest on the edge of neopia central on a grassy hill out of sight of the majority of the bustling owners and neopets. The urge to break down and cry as what the young kacheek had told him in the pound played in his head over and over had passed by the time he had gotten outside. Is that truly what people thought he did? Took pets away and then killed them?? He had never, in his history of working in the pound, put an animal to sleep for any reason. If the neopets stayed in the pound longer than the allotted period of time, they were either offered a job somewhere in neopia if they were willing to strike out on their own instead of being spoiled pets, or they were given to a rehabilitation program in the Neopian Plains to learn to cope with the wilderness and become wild again.  
  
He had seated himself beneath a large shady tree and curled his tail tightly around his ankles as he tried to compose himself enough to return to work.   
  
"Hot dogs! Nice and hot!! Plump when ya cook'em!" a voice rang out from behind him. The doctor looked over his shoulder to see a purple mynci in a paper cap at a stand not far off, eagerly holding up a hot dog in either hand and pandering to the crowd. "Hey pretty lady! Care to try our triple dog today? Hi kiddo! How about a bacon dog deluxe?" he called to the passersby.   
  
The techo, after a moment of thought, got to his feet and headed toward the stand. Maybe some food was just what he needed to get his head on straight. "Fresh hot dogs, people! Fresh---oh! Heya!" the mynci greeted him as he approached. "Dr. D! I didn't think I'd see you again." Dr. Death froze, trying to place the mynci....he had seen hundreds of purple myncis in his time as a pound director. "Remember me? I was uglee2145672257!" he grinned. "'Course....nobody adopted me with a name like that...." he continued. "But I got a job and earned myself a better name." he extended a hand. "Name's Hubert now." the techo tentatively took the mynci's hand and gave it a shake.  
  
"Nice to see you've made something of yourself..." he told the neopet.  
  
"Heh...sorry about all the names I called you." the mynci admitted sheepishly. "Just...voices carry in there and people were convinced you were gonna sell us to Sloth or something." he cleared his throat, sensing that the conversation had taken an awkward turn. "So...umm...what can I do for ya?"  
  
"Just a hot dog." he muttered, reaching into his pocket for his wallet.   
  
"Nah, put that away." Hubert smirked as he went about preparing an onion dog. "The lunch rush hour's over so I don't think anyone's going to poke their head over my shoulder and whine that I'm giving out freebies." In a few moments, the dog was finished, wrapped in paper, and offered to the techo who accepted it slowly before dropping what he had been prepared to pay for the hot dog into the tip jar sitting on the bar of the hot dog stand. He didn't believe in freebies.   
  
As he walked a short distance away to eat his lunch, he was brushed past by a girl and her cybunny as they approached Huburt's stand to buy some food of their own. He growled his disapproval at the fact that they had nearly knocked him over. Some people were utterly obnoxious, he thought to himself as he peeled back the paper from his hot dog and sank his teeth into it. He ought to be getting back to the pound soon, he decided. Rose was probably beside herself trying to deal with the incoming load and he was sure he'd have to hear about it from her up till closing time.  
  
"Yahoo?? Yahoo, are you okay??" a female voice cried from behind. "Oh god...Yahoo...somebody help!"   
  
The yellow techo turned his head to see the same girl who had brushed past him a moment ago, stooping on the ground and swatting her cybunny on the back. The cybunny's face had taken on an unsavory bluish tint and his eyes stared vacantly into nowhere. The neopet was choking.  
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~  
"You want me to call an ambulance?" Hubert asked, dashing out from behind his stand and kneeling beside Karma. The blue cybunny's mouth hung slightly open and a faint whistling eminated from his throat around the large bite of hot dog the cybunny had taken.  
  
"There's no time for that!!" Karma all but shrieked as she gave the rabbit another whack between his shoulders. She felt the first stages of panic begin to engulf her as she realized that Yahoo was going to die soon if she couldn't somehow unblock his throat. Acting on impulse, she poked her hand into his mouth, wondering if she would be able to reach the offending hot dog that way.   
  
Her arm was suddenly yanked aside and she was shoved over. "Get out of the way!" someone commanded as she struck her head against the side of Hubert's stand and saw stars momentarily.   
  
"What the hell...?" she asked, pulling herself up again. The yellow techo she had met at the pound was busily pulling Yahoo into an upright position. As she watched, he wrapped his arms around him in what looked to be a bearhug and squeezed. Yahoo gave a dry barking sound and the bite of hot dog he had taken flew from his mouth and pelted soundlessly into the grass. The cybunny began to draw in great whooping breaths of air as the bluish tint left his face and he collapsed, panting, to his belly.  
  
Hubert, deciding the situation had been dealt with accordingly, slowly went back behind his hot dog counter. Dr. Death reached out, helping the cybunny sit up.  
  
"You're all right." he told the neopet as he stood, brushing the grass from the knees of his pants. Karma watched as Yahoo recovered before turning her attention to Dr. Death as he began to walk away.  
  
"Thank you." she called after him. He froze as though he had been struck.   
  
"You're....welcome." he replied with some difficulty, without turning around. A pause that only lasted a second but seemed a minute hung in the air before he continued on his way. He couldn't remember the last time someone had thanked him for doing anything and meant it. He didn't get a good look at the cybunny's owner but he was almost certain he recognized her as the girl who had been harrassing him the day before.   
  
"Are you alright, Yahoo?" Karma asked as the cybunny sat up and coughed once.   
  
"Geez...that one went down the wrong pipe." he remarked hoarsely, shaking his head to clear it. Karma, relieved, grabbed her neopet in an almost crushing hug. "I don't think I'll have hot dogs for awhile..."  
  
"Hey now, they're not meant to be gobbled up in two bites." Hubert pointed out, in defense of his product.   
  
"I can't help I was hungry." the cybunny shrugged. "Anyhow...how about we head home for awhile, Karma?" he asked. However, the tree frog seemed lost in thought. "Umm...Karma?"  
  
"Shh I'm thinking." she said distantly.   
  
"Umm yeah, I can see that..." Yahoo said, quirking a brow.   
  
"I think we need to do something to thank him..." Karma stated matter-of-factly.  
  
"Thank who?" Yahoo asked as Karma jumped up and scooped him into her arms. He never got his answer as they headed back for the gaming room.  
  
  
TBC.... 


	3. Doglefoxes are the universal language

AUTHOR'S NOTE -- BOO-YAH! Hey everybody! I'm glad you like what you've read so far. I really appreciate your reviews/criticisms :) If you'd like to look me up on neopets, the two accounts I'm on most are karma_leafbarer and strawberry_moonbeams and I like making new neofriends ^^;; For those of you who asked me already, Yes! I do have a picture of Karma for you to look at so you can get a better idea of what she looks like ^_^ (http://www.sirkain.net/~finster/renditions/catrakrm.jpg) there she is...quirky girl with orange eyes. That was taken from a huge art battle I did on yerf.com with some other artists. Anyhow, keep me posted on whatcha think :) *snugs*  
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The dice clattered to the table, displaying a black arrow.   
  
"AHA!! The fun begins!" King Roo exclaimed, bouncing on his tail excitedly as he took away the yellow dice Karma had been playing with and replaced it with a glistening silver dice. The final one. "Let's see how you fare now!" the blumaroo grinned.  
  
"Gladly." Karma chuckled, picking up the dice and giving it a shake in her palm before letting it fall to the tabletop again.   
  
"We have a winner!" King Roo crowed, reaching into the large bag sitting beside him and producing a small glowing bottle. "Fresh from the clutches of Balthazaar, right into your hands!" he announced with a grin as he handed it to Karma. As she examined it, she noticed some movement amid the azure light.   
  
"Cool, a faerie!!" Yahoo announced.   
  
"Come come, now, you haven't lost yet!" King Roo goaded. Karma handed the faerie to yahoo as she shook the dice again. This was her tenth game of Dice-A-Roo and the first time she had graduated to the higher dice. She released it again, landing on the prize face once again. "Lucky girl!" King Roo exclaimed, producing a large slice of chocopie on a plate and pushing it her way. "Keep playing, keep playing!" he commanded, looking entirely too thrilled with the prospect of her winning. By the time she was finished, she had won another faerie, several more pieces of food, and finally had hit the jackpot of 10,391 neopoints.   
  
"Its usually more, yes, but someone won the bigger prize not long before you came up to try again." the king shrugged as he counted out the money and handed it to her in a small sack. "Now you head straight to the bank with that." he instructed her. "I take no responsibility for ghost muggings and other thefts." Karma thanked him and left, carrying her prizes as best as she was able with Yahoo at her side.   
  
"So where're we taking this stuff?" Yahoo asked.   
  
"Home, but I have somewhere I want to stop first." she informed him as they headed for a shop just south of the large Neolodge complex. On the top of it were large, cheery replicas of a pig-like creature and a small blueish amphibian.   
  
"The petpet shop?" Yahoo groaned. "I don't do so well with petpets..." he recalled the spyder he had been given when he lived with Ashley. He had panicked after seeing a scary movie one night and accidentally crushed it when it climbed into bed with him. He had felt horrible about it for months afterward and had never had the nerve to tell Ashley what had happened. As far as she knew, the spyder had simply run away.  
  
"No we're going to get one for the doc." she informed her cybunny. Yahoo paused and then cackled.   
  
"You don't give up, do you??" he snickered.  
  
"Hey laugh it up. If it wasn't for him, you wouldn't be here right now." she reminded him.  
  
"I know, I know, but the idea of him with a pet just is wrong on so many levels." Yahoo replied, hitching back more laughter. "So what are we going to get him? Something squishy and pink, I hope."   
  
"You shush." Karma smirked. "We'll see what there is first." she added as an afterthought as they made their way into the petpet store.   
  
"Ohhh don't tell me, lemme guess!" a black-haired usul chirped as they stepped inside. "Your cybunny wants its very own Mallard, right?" she asked, sweeping a paw at a cage with a confused-looking green duck inside.  
  
"Wrack?" the Mallard inquired to no one in particular.   
  
"Actually, no this one's a gift for a techo." Karma told the shopkeeper.  
  
"Ohh....well, techos are really fond of these little guys!" the usul offered, reaching under the counter and producing a grumpy-looking green blob with four small prongs protruding from its body. As Karma watched, the usul flung the creature across the shop and watched as it bounced off of the wall and jiggled on the ground for a moment before walking back toward the counter, goggling up at the usul through pinkish eyes. "See? They're a game and a pet all in one."  
  
"Charming..." Karma winced, wondering how the little creature could possibly enjoy the "game". "Actually, is there a display we could look at?" she inquired.   
  
"Well, we're not at full stock right now, but the new shipment should arrive any time now....but here." The usul smiled, handing Karma a pamphlet listing the petpets the store was regularly stocked with. As Karma read through it, the usul disappeared into the back for a moment. The petpets seemed to fall into two categories....uncommonly cute or uncommonly odd.  
  
"Here's a nice one..." she commented, tapping a picture of a small fiery fellow.   
  
"Yeah, lots of luck..." Yahoo snickered incredulously.  
  
"Why? What's wrong with him?" Karma asked.  
  
"Oh nothing at all, unless you like shelling out ridiculous amounts of neopoints. That little guy's called a moltenore and the only people I've seen own one are the rich snobs." Karma sighed and turned the page.  
  
"Well then, here. How about this guy?" she asked, pointing at a plump green bird.  
  
"Pawkeet? Heh...they're alright but they screech a lot." Yahoo pointed out, tugging the booklet in his direction and scanning the images. "Oh here's a nice one." he pointed out, pointing at a blue canine with a large head. "Puppyblews are pretty good. I've never had one myself, but I know one of Ashley's friends used to."  
  
"Hmm...think Dr. Death would like him?" she asked  
  
"Oh I hope I didn't hear you right..." the usul behind the desk said, putting her hands to her mouth melodramatically. "That old grouch?? He'd abuse it for sure!"  
  
"I don't judge books by their covers." Karma replied. "Besides, I owe him something. He saved Yahoo's life today." The usul cast her eyes to the cybunny as though confirming whether or not this was true. Yahoo shrugged and blushed, a bit embarrassed by the whole thing. "And I've been told by more than one person he's not as mean as he looks."  
  
"Humph....I heard he made his labcoat out of elephante skins." the shopkeeper muttered.  
  
"Yeah well, I heard Dr. Sloth likes to run naked through neopia central at 1 am eastern with My Little Uni underpants on his head. Doesn't necessarily mean its true." Yahoo replied...and then leaned closer to the usul and whispered with a wink. "I know, I've stayed up and waited."   
  
"Anyway, do you have any of these in stock?" Karma asked, showing the usul the picture of the puppyblew. The usul gave an exaggerated sigh and went into the back, from which muted yelps and and whines came, signifying that the newest shipment had arrived. After a moment, she emerged, not with a puppyblew in her arms but a small brown vulpine.   
  
"I'm afraid we didn't get any puppyblews this time." she remarked. "But we DID have a doglefox." Karma opened her mouth to say something. "...which are very rare and you would consider yourself lucky to get." the shopkeeper continued before the frog could protest. The doglefox in her arms sniffed at the air surrounding Karma and Yahoo and gave a small whuff as it wagged its tail. "Its a bargain to let it go at...say...fifteen thousand." the shopkeeper smiled.   
  
"But al I've got's---" Karma began. Yahoo interrupted.  
  
"How about five thousand?" the neopet asked. The usul wrinkled her nose in distaste.  
  
"Fourteen." she insisted.  
  
"Five thousand, five hundred." the cybunny retorted.  
  
"Really now! Fourteen is a bargain for this little dear!" the usul said, a bit too sweetly. "But...maybe I can be persuaded to let him go for.....the small sum of twelve thousand, five hundred...."  
  
"Eight thousand." Yahoo smirked. The usul's cheeks flared red with a frustration.   
  
"Tell you what. Eleven thousand." she said, trying to keep her cool.  
  
"Nine thousand's my final offer." he told her, looking at his paw as though discovering something rather interesting about his nails. The usul cast a look about the shop, waiting for someone to save her and run up, offering retail price for the doglefox. However, seeing no one, she gritted her teeth.  
  
"Nine thousand, five hundred..." she growled in a last ditch effort to raise the asking price.  
  
"Done." Yahoo replied, giving Karma a nudge in the side. The frog, mesmerized by their exchange, stood numbly a moment before shoving the sack of neopoints she had won from Dice-A-Roo across the counter. The usul counted out 9500 with some chagrin before giving what was left in the sack back to the frog and handing the doglefox over the counter. The animal yapped and wriggled as Karma picked it up, washing its warm tongue over her nose twice.   
  
"That was pretty impressive..." Karma complimented as they headed outside, the doglefox tucked into the crook of her arm.  
  
"Haggling? Its just something you learn to do after awhile." the cybunny shrugged. "Most of the shopkeepers are pushovers. If they know you have money but don't want to blow it on their high prices, they'll negotiate a little with ya." he explained. "So we going home to drop off this stuff first or do you want to go to the pound now?" Karma contemplated the situation, looking at the sack of neopoints and sum of food balanced on her other arm.   
  
"Well...." she said hesitantly. She had been eager to give the doctor his gift, really.  
  
"Actually..." the cybunny said, rearing up on his hind legs and grappling the items away from her. "I'll go drop the stuff off. You go on ahead. I know the way." he assured her. She looked down at her neopet gratefully and was about to thank him. "Buuuuttt...." he began, a twinkle in his eye. Karma sighed, scolding herself for thinking there wouldn't be a catch. "You gotta let me have one of those faeries." he told her.   
  
"Err...why?" she asked, cocking a brow. The cybunny smiled.  
  
"I've got my reasons." he told her cryptically.   
  
"Alright..." she agreed. "But only if you get it all home with no snacking on the way. We need that food to last us a couple days."   
  
"Not a problem." the blue cybunny agreed eagarly, balancing the slice of chocopie between his ears. "I'll come find ya when I'm done!" he called over his shoulder as he carefully loped away with the food and neopoints. The doglefox cuddled into Karma's arms and gave her a canine grin as she began across Neopia Central with it. She was noticed by a few people as she carried the small petpet with her.  
  
"Hey! Wanna trade your doglefox for some codestones? They're really rare!" a little boy with red hair and a spray of freckles across his nose cried, displaying a pair of vibrating stones with mystic emblems on them. Karma shook her head with a polite smile.  
  
"Thanks, but this guy's already spoken for." she called back. The kid pouted a moment and stuffed his stones back into his pocket.  
  
"Jerk." he muttered before turning and heading off in another direction. Karma shook her head, sighing. Neopians sure were defensive... The doglefox cooed and nuzzled her shoulder, making her smile again. Well...she wouldn't be gotten down THAT easily, she decided as she continued on her way to her destination.  
  
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~  
  
Rose looked up as Dr. Death emerged from the washroom, his face still moist with the cold water he had splashed on it.   
  
"You're back." she remarked, managing a smile. He nodded and said nothing as he seated himself. "Mind if I ask where you went to?"  
  
"Needed to get out for awhile..." he grumbled, shifting in his seat. "Sometimes this place really gets to me."  
  
"Believe me, I know what you mean." the uni whickered. "But another day, another neopoint. Isn't that what they say?" she offered. When he failed to answer, she decided to tell him about the revelation she had had earlier about certain pound-goers...if anything made Dr. Death happy, it was being told that he was right...but before she could say anything, the door opened a crack and a head poked inside.   
  
"Anybody home?" a voice asked as an anthro tree frog poked her head inside. Dr. Death, recognizing the girl, rolled his eyes. Why was it she seemed to turn up everyplace he was? Before she could notice him, he quietly got up and excused himself to the back.   
  
"Well hello, dear!" Rose greeted her enthusiastically, not noticing the techo's uneventful absense. "And how's your cybunny doing?"  
  
"Oh! Very well, thanks!" Karma grinned, stepping fully inside. "Actually he's on his way back to the apartment to drop off some dice-a-roo winnings." she cast a hopeful look around. "I don't suppose the...ahh...doctor's come back, has he?" Rose's expression soured the faintest bit.  
  
"You're not here to abandon, are you?" she asked, hoping the tree frog would say no.  
  
"Huh? Oh! No way!!" Karma exclaimed, sounding shocked by the proposal. Rose brightened again.   
  
"Oh good..." she sighed with relief. Karma looked confused. "I just think he's had all of the abandoners he can stand for awhile, dear." Rose explained. "I don't know when the last time is he took an off-day but I'm going to see if I could talk him into putting in for one." she paused a moment. "So you've come to adopt again, I take it?"   
  
"Actually, I came to thank him." Karma told the uni. Rose's eyes widened a bit.  
  
"Thank him?" she inquired. "For what?" Karma bit her lip.  
  
"If he hasn't told you, he probably doesn't want to say." she said at last, shifting her grip a bit on the doglefox. Rose's eyes wandered to the small animal.  
  
"Ohhh....it looks like a certain cybunny's in for a big surprise when you get home." she remarked, reaching out a hoof to the doglefox. "Hello there." she whispered, delighted as the doglefox wagged its tail and batted playfully at her.  
  
"Actually this guy isn't for Yahoo." she explained. "Yahoo really doesn't like petpets very much."  
  
"So I WAS right! You're adopting another!" the uni grinned.  
  
"Well, no not exactly...she cast a look around the front office. "Any idea when Dr. Death might be back?" a look of understanding dawned in the uni's eyes.   
  
"Oh...dear, I don't know that a petpet is the right sort of present for him...." Rose faltered. "I mean, its thoughtful of you, but...." she tried to envision Dr. Death actually accepting such a gift and found it to be impossible. Just what had he done for this girl anyway to possess her to buy such an expensive pet?  
  
"I really don't know." Karma admitted. "It seemed like it was a good idea and---" her voice trailed off, realizing she really had no good argument for buying the doglefox other than a whim had struck her. A moment of silence hung between them, the doglefox breaking it with a quizzical "Yerf?"  
  
There was a stirring in the back and, after a moment, Dr. Death emerged from where he had been looking for something to occupy himself with among the pets awaiting adoption...but he had found nothing. Everyone had been fed, cleaned, and given fresh water an hour ago and, at length, he had taken to standing nearby the door to the main office and waiting for Karma to leave. He couldn't make out what was being said, but the conversation seemed pleasant. The two female voices had gone on for a bit and then there had been silence which he had mistakenly assumed to mean that Karma had left.  
  
He skidded to a dead halt as both girls' eyes fell upon him. Bad timing, he cursed himself. HORRIBLY bad timing.   
  
"Oh, there you are!" Karma smiled as she approached the desk. The techo, still a bit bewildered, realized that he couldn't very well turn and escape again and forced himself to move forward with an air of calmness that he didn't feel and seat himself. Rose, taking the awkwardness in the air as her cue to leave, quickly shot a look at the watch on her wrist.  
  
"Oh dearie my..." she sighed. "Looks like its time for my break."   
  
"Rose, don't you dare...." he began, giving her a warning glance.   
  
"Oh don't be that way!" she scoffed, smiling. "You took your break an hour early and I'm at least ten minutes late for mine."   
  
"But--" he tried to protest but before he could get another word in, Rose had gotten up, taken her shawl off of the hook by the door, and trotted outside. Very slowly, he settled his gaze onto Karma who shifted her weight uncomfortably. "Alright..." he said after clearing his throat and drawing himself up in a professional manner. "...what can I do for you?"  
  
"I just wanted to thank you for helping my cybunny." she said carefully. A shadow of confusion passed over Dr. Death's face. Hadn't they already exchanged gratitude before he had left her by Hubert's? He sighed, shaking his head.  
  
"Don't get the idea that it gives you the right to trail me all over Neopia." he replied stiffly. "I would have done the same for anyone's pet. It was procedure."   
  
"Well, whatever it was....if it wasn't for you, Yahoo wouldn't be with me right now." she smiled. "And...well....this is for you." she said, setting the doglefox on the counter. Its feet slid out from beneath it on the smooth surface as it struggled for a moment before righting itself again. It turned its attention to Dr. Death and, with no sign of fear whatsoever, began thumping its tail as it wriggled excitedly, whining as it puzzled over the edge of the desk, wanting to climb into his lap.   
  
"What!!" he exclaimed, taken utterly offguard as the doglefox plucked up its nerve and leapt clumsily onto his belly, yapping happily and eagerly trying to lick the techo's face. The doctor winced and held the petpet out at arm's length. "I don't have time for this!" he hissed. "I've a tight schedule to run and if I wanted a petpet, I'm perfectly capable of getting one myself!!" He wasn't sure if it was the tone in his voice or the fact that the doglefox truly understood what he was saying, but the cheerfulness of the canine hybrid quickly deflated as it cringed in his hands, beginning to tremble and whimper.   
  
Karma, looking down at her hands, tried to hide how his words stung her. Well...she supposed she had no right to be completely blindsided. The uni had warned her, after all. The yellow techo sighed, rolling his eyes as he sensed the discomfort he had caused and looked down at the petpet that was whimpering and gazing balefully up at him and tried to fight the melting he felt in his resolve. Damn it, why did it seem all petpets had the ability to turn their eyes into pitiful oil puddles when they were upset? It was likely a power that Frank Sloth himself couldn't reckon with.   
  
"I'm sorry..." the tree frog apologized, reaching out to take the doglefox back. "Maybe I can talk Yahoo into keeping it then...."   
  
"No...its...." Dr. Death faltered for a moment, nestling the doglefox into the crook of his arm. Its happy demeanor returned almost instantly as it cooed against his chest. "....that was rude of me." he admitted quietly, keeping his voice down in case anyone walked in. Karma hesitated. "I have to tell you, I'm not used to this sort of thing." He cast another look down at the doglefox that was now kneading at the arm of his labcoat gently, its eyes half-closed.   
  
"What thing?" Karma asked warily.   
  
"Gratitude." the techo replied. Karma almost breathed a sigh of relief, glad he hadn't picked up on her real feelings.  
  
"So, you'll keep it?" she asked hopefully.  
  
"I'll try." he said flatly, looking doubtfully at the doglefox. How long had it been since he'd owned a pet? The last time he could recall was a puppyblew he had taken in when he was a barely a teenager. He hadn't kept it long, either. His mother hadn't approved of pets and the puppyblew had been taken to the trading post, given away for a codestone and a lime elixer while he had been at school.   
  
"If you...you know, can't take care of it, let me know..." Karma offered. "I don't want to give you anymore troubles than you've already got..." the doctor waved his hand dismissively to silence her.   
  
"You meant no harm." he assured her. He no longer sounded guarded and harsh, but rather simply put-out and tired. She decided she had been wrong...and that she wasn't going to find that the doctor was an utter jerk in person, after all. Karma suddenly felt stifled in the front office and wanted----needed to get outside.   
  
"I've got to be going now." she said, sounding rushed as she backed a step toward the door. "Will I see you around?"   
  
"You mean the way you seem to be 'seeing me around' so frequently now?" he asked, cocking a brow. Karma didn't answer as she turned and left abruptly. The doglefox, startled out of its doze by the door closing, looked up, pricking its ears at the techo.   
  
"Mrawf?" it asked.   
  
"I don't know either..." Dr. Death sighed, idly scratching the petpet's head. The doglefox leaned into the skritches, enjoying the attention. "Of all the people you could have fallen in with, it had to be me, didn't it?" he said in a low voice. "Fate is a cruel mistress, wouldn't you agree?" the doglefox, heedless of his self-pity licked his hand softly as it curled up again and let out a deep breath as it trailed off to nap again. Alone, with no one to see him, Dr. Death allowed himself a small smile. It quickly fell from his face as the door banged open again and RoseMadder, back from her "break", appeared.  
  
"Well...that went better than I thought it might..." Rose commented as she stepped back inside, noticing the doglefox sleeping peacefully in the crook of Dr. Death's arm.  
  
"What did?" he asked her, his eyes narrowing slightly.  
  
"Oh, doctor!" she laughed, tossing her head as she untied her shawl and hung it back on the hook. "You can't *really* be that blind, can you?" The techo simply blinked in puzzlement.  
  
"I'm not getting you." he told her, his arm growing tired of holding the doglefox as he unbuttoned the breast pocket of his labcoat and slipped the petpet inside. It wriggled a bit, adjusting to its new carrier, and then continued to sleep.  
  
"Its pretty obvious that she has something for you." the pink uni winked. Dr. Death motioned to the doglefox in his front pocket.  
  
"She gave it to me." he shrugged.   
  
"That's not what I meant and you know it." Rose said, in a playfully condescending voice.  
  
"I don't like games, Rose..." he warned her. The smile slipped from Rose's face. Did he honestly have no idea?  
  
"To put it bluntly, Doctor, I think this girl has a deathgrip of a crush on you." Rose told him.   
  
"Congratulations." Dr. Death replied sourly. "That's the single most ridiculous thing I've heard all day." Rose shook her head. "And even if you were right, its not feasible."  
  
"Humor me." Rose told him, pricking her ears.  
  
"For one, we're not the same species." he told her sharply.  
  
"Something that can be overlooked." the uni cut in. "I know lots of neopians who crossed the border of species to find love. And---"  
  
"And for another..." he interrupted. "....the age difference is too big."   
  
"Well now you're just looking for reasons." Rose scoffed, rolling her eyes. "You can't be THAT much older than she is."   
  
"I doubt that." he grumbled, slouching in his chair as he silently willed Rose to just leave him alone. If this day got any more hectic than it already was, he had a feeling he was going to simply go crazy.  
  
"Alright, well, I can't twist your arm and force you to do anything." she said, sounding somewhat defeated. "But just seems a shame to pout about your life and let opportunities pass you by. You might at least try talking to her outside of your job once. At least to update her on that." she said, pointing at the doglefox.  
  
"I am NOT a child." the doctor spat, glaring at her as the hold he had been keeping on his temper slipped. "You have a lot of nerve to lecture me like one, Rose, and if I wanted your advice, I'd rattle the bars of your damned cage, do you understand??" Rose said nothing and cleared her throat as Dr. Death whipped his attention away from her to a black-haired young lady standing before the desk and holding a trembling green zafara.  
  
He completed the abandonment of the zafara wordlessly, the tail of one eye constantly focused on Rose as she shot him a dark glance now and then. "Look, I'm sorry..." he said at last, as he took the zafara from the girl.  
  
"Hmph...." Rose snorted, opening a desk drawer and taking out a book she had been working on reading on-and-off for the past few weeks. He sighed and turned to take the zafara into the containment area, beginning to count the minutes until his shift was over and he could go home. Feh....a crush indeed. How ludicrous.   
  
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~  
  
"So! How did it go?" Yahoo asked, looking up from where he had been lounging on a green sofa that hadn't been there when they had left.   
  
"Eh..." the tree frog shrugged. "He wasn't terribly thrilled. I should have expected it." She eyed him curiously. "Where'd the couch come from, Yahoo?"  
  
"Oh..." he grinned and bounced on it twice. "Ya like it? I was going to get a bed but I didn't have enough neopoints. This one's a hideaway though."   
  
"Its nice...what did you use to pay for it?" she asked, crossing her arms over her chest. Yahoo looked sheepish.  
  
"Well, I took the stuff home and waited....when you didn't show up, I decided to take a ferry to Mystery Island and give Tombola a try since I missed out for the past couple of weeks. When I lost out on that, I headed for the trading post and...well...." he wriggled a little, getting comfortable on the sofa. "Somebody didn't want it so I had it delivered."   
  
"You didn't answer my question." Karma told the cybunny firmly. He winced.  
  
"Aww geez, Karma....it only cost the faerie you said I could have!" he whined. "Air faeries don't do me any good at the level I'm at anyway."  
  
"Yeah, why'd you want it, by the way?" she asked, sitting down beside her cybunny.  
  
"Eh....the faeries in those bottles are ones that some idiot keeps catching and taking from their homelands. If you let them out, sometimes they'll bless you. I could do with a couple of abilities, I think." he said, righting himself on his hind legs and pretending to flex muscles that he didn't have. Karma chuckled.  
  
"Alright fair enough...and I bet this is a lot more comfortable than the cots." she added.  
  
"Soooo....he took the doglefox at least. That's good, right?" Yahoo asked, changing the subject back to Dr. Death.  
  
"Yeah but I have a feeling he's going to shove it off onto someone else..." she grumbled. "Oh well....if he does, he does. I'm not going to lose sleep over it."   
  
"You did what you could." the cybunny assured her. "See, this would be so much easier if you were both pteris." he continued.  
  
"Why's that?" she asked.  
  
"Because all they have to do to show another pteri that they like them is go like this:" saying so, Yahoo proceeded to jump wildly up and down, flapping his arms and screeching "BRAWK!! ARRAWKKAWKAWK BRAWKK!!!" Karma dissolved into loud laughter, rolling off of the couch and onto her back on the floor at her neopet's mimicry of pteri courting rituals. When her amusement had trailed off to occasional hitches and snorts, she spoke again.  
  
"That would make it easier, you're right....but I somehow think if I tried that I'd be in an even worse situation with him than I am now."   
  
"Eh, whatever works." he shrugged. "Are you gonna eat that piece of chocopie?"  
  
"Mind if I ask where you're putting all that food?" Karma quipped, poking the blue cybunny's belly. He giggled and climbed off of the couch, heading for the fridge in the kitchen.   
  
"That's for me to know and you not to." he called over his shoulder playfully as he threw open the door and retrieved the chocolate confection, his mouth already watering in anticipation. She watched him with an indulgant smile and in doing so, wondered what had become of the doglefox. Would the doctor keep it or pawn it off onto someone else? She decided, at this point it was out of her hands and whatever happened, happened.  
  
  
TBC..... 


	4. This is not your room...

AUTHOR'S NOTE -- I get bored writing about myself and my characters....so this chapter's devoted to Dr. D and his doglefox for the mostpart. Hope you like :)  
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Dr. Death pulled his pillow over his head, wincing as another high-pitched yap filled his head. He opened his eyes a bit, squinting at the alarm clock. 3:21 in the morning. He had to get up in three hours for work, and thanks to the nuisance outside he hadn't gotten any rest. There was a blessed moment of silence as he let his eyes wearily slip closed again.  
  
YIP!!  
  
He jolted awake, frustrated anger stealing over him as he threw back his bedcovers and yanked his bathrobe on, storming out of the room and into the hallway. Didn't petpets ever sleep?? He reached the door to his backyard and threw it open, to see the doglefox sitting in the middle of the dew-kissed grass and looking at him pitifully as it sat by its dish.  
  
"What??" he demanded to know as he approached the petpet, shivering in the night air. "What's your problem??" the doglefox looked up at him and whimpered. The yellow techo felt his last thread of patience beginning to wear away as he surveyed the bowl, which was still filled with food, and the water dish which was still up to the rim with clean water. He had spent nearly fifteen thousand neopoints on accessories for the troublesome petpet on his way home, including an outdoor pet house (which outdoor pets such as gathows and doglefoxes LOVED, the shopkeeper had assured him) and numerous toys...all of which laid untouched on the patio.  
  
"Do you not like the bacon bits, is that it?" he asked, kneeling and pawing frustratedly through the doglefox's food. "Then don't eat them, eat the kibbles!" He paused, realizing how ridiculous he must have sounded, trying to loudly reason with the small hybrid in the wee hours of the morning. Salvaging what dignity remained in his half-awake state, he stood, brushed the grass from his knees, and walked quickly back inside.   
  
The doglefox whined as it watched its owner disappear back into the house and tilted its head back as the door closed, giving an ear-splitting howl. Almost instantly, the yellow techo burst back outside.  
  
"WHAT????" he asked again. "What do you need??" The doglefox wagged its tail slightly, still whimpering.   
  
"Shut that mutt up, you idiot!!" a familiar voice commanded. Dr. Death whirled to see Jespie leaning out of the top window of his cardboard abode, his massive bulk crammed into a set of striped pajamas that had gone beyond the point of stretched and crossed over into imbedded into his skin.   
  
"Put a negg in it, Jespie!" the doctor snarled.  
  
"I'll call the damn police!" the tuskaninny threatened. Dr. Death rolled his eyes, scooping the doglefox into his arms and carrying it into the house. Once inside, he set it on the carpeting and regarded it a moment.   
  
"Happy now?" he asked it, scowling in sleepy malice. The doglefox responded by yapping once and then galloping past him into the hallway. Already, Dr. Death had a good idea of where it was headed.... "NO!" he barked after it, turning and following the petpet. "No! Don't even think about it!!" he paused in the darkened doorframe of his bedroom and then reached out, flipping the lightswitch. The doglefox lifted its head and looked at him lazily from where it was lounging on his pillow as though it had been there all along and thumped its tail.   
  
For a long moment, the techo simply glared at his pet....too tired to really argue any further with it. "Let's come to an agreement..." he growled, approaching the bed and grasping the small creature, placing it firmly in the bottom corner of the mattress. "You stay there." he warned it as he flicked off the light again and climbed back beneath tbe bedsheets, situating himself into a comfortable position and already beginning to feel himself drifting into a deep slumber.  
  
The petpet waited until the doctor's breathing had become deep and even before quietly getting up from the foot of the bed and creeping up to curl itself up against its owner's neck, draping its tail over his nose as it yawned widely and settled its head onto its paws for what was left of the night.  
  
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~  
  
Rose sipped at her morning cup of coffee, idly reading through the latest Neopian Times and now and then, picking up the angel aisha cookie she had bought at the bakery on the way to work and taking a nibble. The pound wouldn't be open for business for another half hour and both she and Dr. Death were in the habit of arriving early for their work to clean any messes the hopeful adoptees had made in the night and get the paperwork in order. In fact, most mornings they had synchronized their schedules so well that they ended up walking to work together....well....side by side, at least. More often than not, if the doctor didn't ignore her completely, he had something snide to say to her.  
  
However...she hadn't seen any trace of him this morning which she had found peculiar. Simply assuming he was either running a few minutes ahead or behind her, she had gone on to work and taken care of everything herself. She didn't mind, really, though she supposed if she wanted to be petty about it she could inform Dr. Death that tomorrow it would be his turn.   
  
She sat quietly for five more minutes, beginning to get restless at the absense of the doctor. If he had called in sick, someone would have phoned her shortly after he had done so to inform her he wouldn't be in, but she had heard from no one. She bit her lip as she cast a look up at the clock. Where was he? After a moment of debate with herself, she reached for the desk phone and rolodex of numbers, leafing through them until she found his and dialed it.   
  
The phone rang once....twice....three times. She was about to hang up when it was picked up on the tail-end of the fourth ring.  
  
"Hlo?" a slurred voice asked.  
  
"Umm...you DO have work today, you know." Rose informed him. There was a pause and then some fumbling sounds, followed by a clatter that sounded distinctly like an alarm clock being pulled off of the nightstand and hitting the floor.   
  
"God dammit..." he hissed. "Alright....I'll be in as soon as I can."  
  
"Are you okay?" she asked, cocking a brow.  
  
"I forgot to set the alarm." he replied. "And this damned doglefox kept me up all night."  
  
"Probably just getting used to the place." she offered. "Don't give up on him yet."  
  
"I won't tell you WHAT I'd like to do to him." the techo snorted. Now there were muffled sounds of drawers being flung open and slammed closed again. "I'll be there in a few minutes." he assured her. "Goodbye." Before Rose had a chance to say anything else, he had hung up. She stared at the reciever a moment before laying it back on its cradle and returning to her coffee and cookie.   
  
Not two minutes later, she heard someone running up the walk and watched as Dr. Death burst through the door, breathless and disheveled. She blinked, surprised.  
  
"Goodness!! You're a fright!" she exclaimed as he made a vain attempt to straighten his collar.  
  
"Tell me about it." he snorted, shaking out the sleeves of his labcoat so they didn't look quite so wrinkled. Even from where she was sitting, Rose could see the dark circles under his eyes.  
  
"You weren't kidding when you said you'd gotten no sleep." Rose remarked. The techo seemed to ignore her as he slumped into his chair and grunted, rubbing his temples gently and trying to stave off the drowsiness still pulling at him. "You want to call off work today?" she offered. "I can put a call into the main office for you." Dr. Death debated this idea a moment, highly tempted, but at length, shook his head.  
  
"No." he told her. "I'm fine." She shrugged.   
  
"So what are you going to do?" she asked.  
  
"About what?" he muttered, jolting as he caught himself slouching forward, his head feeling strangely too heavy to hold up.  
  
"About your doglefox." she asked.  
  
"Oh...." he replied. He said no more as his forehead thunked dully to the desk surface and she watched him a moment to see if he'd jolt awake again. When he remained asleep, she sighed, picking up the phone again and dialing.  
  
"Employment Office, this is Arylkia speaking." a melodious voice sounded over the reciever.   
  
"Yes, may I have the scheduling department?" she inquired. Instead of a reply, she was placed on hold, a lilting song from M*Ynci filtering into her ear for a moment before the connection was picked up again.   
  
"Scheduling." a female's voice said.  
  
"I'm calling on behalf of one of the pound personell. He's come to work unfit to perform his duties and I'd like permission to dismiss him for the day." Rose said professionally. As if on cue, Dr. Death jolted into a sitting position again.  
  
"I'm fine!" he exclaimed aloud to no one in particular.   
  
"Mm hmm...and who's calling?" the scheduling attendant inquired.  
  
"RoseMadder. Also a pound employee." there was a sound of flipping pages as an employment roster was leafed through.  
  
"Rose....Rose.....ah, here you are." she stated. There was a scratching of a pen. "And...the only other listed employee I have for that location is a yellow techo....name Dr. Death?"  
  
"Yes ma'am." she nodded.   
  
"Alright. I'll put him in for a day of leave. Do you need us to send you a temp or can you run things on your own?"  
  
"Oh I'll be alright." Rose assured her. "Thank you." She cast a look at Dr. Death as she hung up, clearing her throat loudly. His eyes snapped open again, already threatening to close. "You can head home now." she informed him.  
  
"Did I sleep through my shift?" he asked groggily. Rose, in spite of herself, laughed.  
  
"Your shift hasn't even started yet and I've already called you in." she grinned. "Now go home and rest. Scoot." She half-expected him to rear back and grumble at her some more about being overbearing, but instead he silently pulled himself to his feet again and dragged himself out the door. She thought of offering to see him home, but knew that he would reject her offer hotly. After all, as he had told her many times, he wasn't a child.  
  
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~  
  
The doglefox was in the process of happily shredding one of the cushions of the kauvara-print sofa in the living room when Dr. Death stumbled back into the house. Instantly, the petpet cringed and tucked its tail between its legs as it expected a lecture or a swat on the rear...but he walked straight past it, not noticing the small canine's destruction. His mind had merged into a single track at the moment....and that track was sleep as he ventured back into his bedroom. He was soundly dozing even before he had collapsed on the mattress, still fully dressed.   
  
The doglefox cautiously peered around the corner of the doorframe, regarding its owner quietly. Sleeping again? Hadn't he done enough of that last night? He must have been lying there for at least a whole two hours....oh well. Deciding to make the most of its free time, the doglefox trotted into the kitchen, thinking it would see what it could find in the pantry. Even as it wrestled a box of neoflakes off of the shelf and began to gleefully scatter them on the floor, Dr. Death slipped into a dream....one he had had many times before, and one that he hadn't gotten to like any better....namely because it was true.  
  
"Glitz, get up and fight!!" a boy's voice commanded. "That shadow usul only hit you once, now c'mon!!" A frail yellow techo cowered on the ground of the battledome as the sleek ebony monster padded closer, leering at him through its glowing eyes.   
  
"Just try me. I'd love to." the usul grinned, showing off its maw of needly teeth. Glitz trembled, trying to summon the energy for just one more attack....one more and then his owner would know he had given it his all. At length, however, frozen by fatigue and fright, he simply laid on his side with a resigned sigh. "Feh....worthless." the shadow usul smirked, scooping up a pawful of dust and flicking it over its fallen opponent before trotting out of the battledome arena.   
  
The techo heard the approaching footsteps of his owner and lifted his head, managing to thump his tail on the ground in greeting to show that he wasn't hurt too badly. The boy's face, however, was sour.   
  
"I'm never going to win any battledome fights with you as a pet!" he complained, grabbing up the techo and slinging it over his shoulder. Glitz sighed, knowing the routine....now they'd head to the healing springs to see if the water faerie could help him and then it was back to that damned punching bag for more training. He didn't want to fight anymore...his muscles ached and never seemed to get any larger no matter how hard he worked out and the only battle he had ever won had been against one of his owner's friends' poogles that was scarcely more than a newborn....and even then, he had just barely come out on top.  
  
Hell, if you wanted to look at it in retrospect, even HE was just a child. He allowed himself to be carried, his eyes closed and head resting on his owner's shoulder. Things would be better later, he promised himself. The shadow usul had been too much for him to try and take on by himself, but maybe if they started smaller....the pant devil, perhaps. He became aware, suddenly, of the distant sound of someone crying. Probably some beggar on the street, he told himself. As he listened, however, the crying got increasingly louder until it seemed utterly overpowering. Unable to stand it any longer, Glitz opened his eyes, startled to find himself at what served as neopia's pound at the time.   
  
A large warehouse-like structure that stank of sawdust and tears loomed before him as his owner approached what looked like a cast-iron doggie door and knelt before it. Glitz had seen how it had worked in the past and knew what was behind it. Behind it were hundreds of upset and crying pets that had been abandoned by their owners. The door was designed specifically to open only one way....inward. Glitz felt his stomach clench as the boy pulled him off of his shoulder and set him down in front of it.  
  
"Well....this is it." he remarked.   
  
"But---But Joey...." Glitz faltered, fishing for the right words. Had it really all come down to this? "Why?"   
  
"Because I need a fighter, Glitz, not a marshmallow. Now go on in and maybe some girl will adopt you and make you her cuddletoy or something." he said with a dismissive wave of his hand. The techo's eyes brimmed with tears.   
  
"But I love you, Joey..." he said in a last attempt to appeal to his owner. The boy simply shook his head and pointed at the door. Tears rolling down his cheeks, Glitz slunk forward and slipped through it, immediately finding himself in a sea of pets....some sobbing, some trying to comfort the crying, and some sitting dejectedly in the corners.   
  
"Why, Marinda???" a red quiggle wailed. "Why'd you leave me here??" A green jubjub stood nearby, trying to comfort her with little success. A door suddenly opened off to the side and the pets instantly surged toward it, choruses of "Please pick me!!" already beginning. Glitz simply watched a moment, unsure of what was going on and still bewildered at Joey's abandonment of him. A figure stepped into the room, wading through the sea of pets....one that Glitz instantly recognized. Joey! He hadn't abandoned him after all! He must have had second thoughts and realized that he was making a mistake.   
  
Trying as best as he could to weasel through the throng of neopets gathered hopefully around his owner, Glitz tried his best to be seen, calling out to Joey and even trying to climb over the other pets. But it seemed Joey couldn't hear nor see him. As he watched, the boy knelt, scooping up a green jetsam and smiling approvingly at it.  
  
"How strong are you?" he heard Joey ask it above the clamor of the other pets. The Jetsam grinned, showing off its fangs.   
  
"We'll grind'em into dust together, kid." the fish winked. Pleased, Joey stood with his new find and turned to leave, despite the disappointed wails of the others. Just as quickly as he had come, he was gone again. Glitz, dejected and hurt, retreated into a corner and sat down to mull over what had just happened. How could Joey have done this? The same boy who had taken him out of the pet stockhouse, fresh from his egg, not thirty seven days ago and promised him they would always be together had left him alone and, to add insult to injury, taken another pet in his place. Around him, the sniffling of the other pets seemed to grow louder....becoming not just stifling but suffocating. It was like an enormous black sea that he was sinking in and couldn't get out of.....their sadness was drowning him.....................  
  
Dr. Death jolted awake with a cry, finding himself in the silence of his own house. God, he hated that nightmare....he wished he could just forget his first owner and be done with it, but something kept making him cling to the painful memories....it wasn't fair. He blinked several times, trying to shake off the last remnants of the dream and clarify that, yes, he was back in reality now. On his nightstand, the alarm clock read 2:06 PM. God, how long had he been sleeping? And in his work clothes no less? He sat up, unshouldering his rumpled labcoat and laying it out over the bedspread as he stood, stretching. As he went about awakening himself, he noticed something out of the corner of his eye on the floor....something that seemed entirely out of place.  
  
Puzzled, he ventured toward it, stooping to pick it up and examine it. It was a scrap of blue cloth, slightly moist, and looking as though it had been torn from its source. He puzzled over this a moment before he was interrupted by the sound of breaking glass in the kitchen. He jolted, feeling the hair on the back of his neck prickle. Someone was in his house. He cast his eyes quickly about the room to see if there was something he could use as a weapon. Finding nothing, he swallowed heavily and forced himself to venture out of the bedroom. He could hear a faint scuffling, though he was no longer sure where it was coming from as he treaded silently through the hallway.  
  
Upon reaching the living room, he understood where the scrap of cloth had come from....his couch was in utter ruins and looked....well....slashed. But why? Who would have done such a thing?? As he contemplated retreating back into his bedroom, locking the door, and phoning the chia police to deal with this, there was another crash from the kitchen. He gritted his teeth, edging toward the sound, very unwillingly, his nerves twanging.   
  
He knew what he was going to see even before he saw it as he poked his snout around the corner....everything was in ruins. Canisters were overturned with their contents spilling out of them onto the counter, cans had been scattered across the floor, boxes had been torn open and the floor was a litter of cereal, cardboard, pasta, and dried vegetables.   
  
What....the....hell??  
  
As he took in the disarray before him, there was a clatter from the corner of the kitchen where the cabinet he kept his cooking utensils in had been opened and a jumble of pots and pans littered the floor. As he watched, a familiar round face poked out of the mess, its tongue lulling happily out of its mouth. The doglefox, its coat dusted in flour and stray neoflakes, gave itself a shake and, not yet noticing its owner standing in the doorway, galloped back across the kitchen to paw open another cabinet.  
  
Even as the cabinet began to edge open and the doglefox began to see what it contained, he found himself suddenly on his back in the grass of the backyard, blinking bewilderedly at the sky. What had just happened? Behind him, he heard the back door slam shut and rolled over, looking at it curiously.   
  
Dr. Death stormed back into the kitchen after tossing the doglefox outside, not knowing where to begin on the shambles his house had been left in. He already could chalk a week's worth of groceries and his living room couch up as completely ruined... He trembled angrily, deciding that this was it. As soon as he was done cleaning, the obnoxious little petpet was leaving. He didn't care where it got placed....either he'd offer it to one of the pets in the pound or he'd take it back to the store, but it couldn't stay with him. Not if it was going to behave this way.  
  
Sighing, he retrieved a garbage bag from beneath the sink and headed into the living room to scoop the remnants of his couch into it.  
  
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~  
  
It took most of the afternoon and well into the evening to remove the destruction from his house, but the doctor managed, loading nearly eight trash bags with tattered items and dragging his ruined sofa out to the curb for the trash collectors to pick up or for a passing beggar to cart off to their own home. He didn't care, really, as he sat at the kitchen table, making a list of everything that had been destroyed and next to it writing how much he was guessing it would cost to replace it all.   
  
He was vaguely reminded of a stupid movie he had seen when it had been brought in from "Earth", where most of Neopia's residents claimed to have come from and aired briefly in nearby theaters. In it, a policeman had adopted a creature that was reminiscent of a Warf called a "dog" that had utterly ransacked his house and ruined his life for the first half of the movie but then had ended up his best friend by the end of it. What had it been called? Turner And Hooch, he remembered. But at least THAT animal had served a purpose and had helped the policeman track down an evil force.   
  
He sighed as he appraised the ruined kauvara sofa at roughly ten thousand neopoints on the sheet of paper and mentally calculated everything he had listed. The total came to just under fifty thousand neopoints to restock his food, replace his furniture, and have his carpet cleaned. He flinched as the doglefox scratched at the back door, deciding to try to convince him yet again to let it inside since its destructive spree.  
  
"NO!" he yelled across the living room at it. There was a slight pause and then one of its trademarked ear-splitting yips. "You're staying outside." he growled acidly. It howled long and loudly, as though knowing that that was what it usually took to bring him. "SHUT UP!!!" he screamed at it, losing the thin leash on his temper. The doglefox, however, persisted with its noise until he thought he would go mad....and finally, he rose to his feet and stormed toward the glass sliding door. "I SAID, SHUT---" he began, meaning to pound a fist on the glass and rattle it to scare the petpet away from the patio, and instead heard a musical tinkling as it shattered around his fist, two of his knuckles splitting open on impact.   
  
For a moment, there was no pain as warm blood began to trickle down his forearm and spatter the beige carpeting and then, with almost heart-stopping force, it hit, making him grit his teeth and double over as he clutched his wounded hand. The doglefox squealed in fright, galloping quickly across the yard and cowering in the pet house that, up until that moment, had remained unused. He remained immobile for a moment, the pain in his fist not allowing him to move or even think....and then slowly, he began to come back to his senses as he looked at the shards of broken glass littering the patio and carpet....and then at his wounded hand.   
  
Wincing in disgust, he carefully dislodged a small splinter of glass from where it had buried itself in his skin and flexed his fingers. The cuts, though they were bleeding profusely, didn't look very deep and were far from serious....though they were certainly enough of to remind him of how his temper easily got away from him sometimes.  
  
It occurred to him that the glass door was likely going to cost more to replace than any of the damage the doglefox had done and strangely, it struck him as funny as he snickered dryly for a moment. The irony was so thick in the air, he could feel it pressing on him as he picked himself up and ventured into the kitchen, cracking the tap and running cold water over his hand. As the spilled blood washed away, he confirmed his notion that the cuts were not at all serious and only looked ugly. It could have been worse though...a few more centimeters to the right and he might have hit an artery.   
  
The idea made him sick as he turned the water off and tore a paper towel off of the roll, patting the sliced flesh dry and wondering if he had any bandages in his medicine cabinet. Knowing his luck, likely not....and he didn't much relish the idea of walking through Neopia Central bleeding all over himself to buy some from the pharmacy. They'd likely wonder if he had started butchering pets in his home instead of just taking them away. The idea brought another burst of laughter into his throat which he bit off abruptly.   
  
Deciding to at least check, he went into the bathroom and opened the mirrored cabinet, confirming his suspicion that yes, he had no bandages....so much for a doctor always being prepared, he thought sourly as he returned to the kitchen, selecting a clean dish towel off of the drying rack and wrapping it around his hand, tying a clumsy one-handed knot and cinching it with his teeth. It would have to work, he decided.  
  
As he ventured back into the living room, kneeling to carefully start picking the glass shards up and group them into a pile so they'd be easier to clean up, the doglefox poked its head cautiously out of where it had been cowering in its pet house. Its owner hadn't come out of the house to wrestle him out of hiding....that had been good, but unexpected. What was going on? From where it hid, it could see the yellow techo kneeling through the jagged mouth of broken glass his fist had made in the door.   
  
Plucking up its courage, it ventured closer....  
  
Dr. Death heard the faint rustling of grass as the doglefox edged cautiously toward him. Still angry with the animal, he didn't bother acknowledging its presense as he carefully untangled a smaller piece of glass from the carpet and set it on the pile. There was the soft patter of the doglefox's paws on the patio and then a small shadow fell over him.   
  
"Wruff." the animal vocalized, announcing its presense. The techo still refused to look at the petpet, feeling his rage rising again. First thing in the morning, he would find Karma and give the creature back. He was tired of dealing with its trouble and.....his thought trailed off as his mind conjoured up the hundreds of excuses he had heard daily when people came to the pound to abandon, all of them revolving around the fact that since they couldn't deal with the pet, they were dumping it on someone else.   
  
Well, this was different, he tried to tell himself. But was it really? No. It wasn't at all. In fact, he wondered if his blatant mistreatment of the doglefox in its time with him had made him even worse than some of the people he had come to resent for dropping their pets on him. It was a humbling thought that made his anger significantly diffuse itself as he continued to gather up the glass, still not looking at the petpet. He heard the petpet pad around to his other side, and then fall silent. There was silence and then a tugging sensation on the hem of his shirt.  
  
"Haven't you done enough to me today?" he asked the small animal contemptiously. The doglefox whimpered, releasing his shirt from its jaws and trotting around to his side, watching him as he cleaned up the mess he had made. Dr. Death mulled his situation over in his head as he did so. He supposed, if need be, he could always build an enclosure for the doglefox when he wasn't around to keep an eye on it since it seemed simply dropping the animal was going to leave him with a conscience problem.   
  
There was a warm sensation on his wrist, just below the bandage as he looked down to see the doglefox whining and washing its small tongue over his fingers, looking up hopefully as it did so. He paused, fighting to hold onto his anger....he didn't want to give in so easily after all that had happened....yet.....  
  
He dropped what he was doing and picked up the animal, holding it out in front of himself. The doglefox's back legs kicked at the empty air a moment as it eyed him warily. "You are a lot more trouble than you're worth." he informed the doglefox. It stared at him a moment and then leaned forward, its tongue lapping at the air in a vain attempt to lick his nose. A smile pulled at the corners of his mouth, threatening to break his angry demeanor for a moment.   
  
"Now you listen to me," he told the doglefox sternly. "If you're going to live here, there are going to be rules. No more late-night barking, no more destroying my house, and no more driving me crazy. Is that understood?" The doglefox blinked its black button eyes, obviously not comprehending a word he had said. "What am I talking to you for?" he sighed, shaking his head as he set the animal down again and continued to clean up the glass.   
  
After a few moments, when he was fairly sure he had gotten everything out of the carpet, he went about gathering it up in the last garbage bag he had, carefully settling the larger shards in the bottom so the thin plastic wouldn't be as likely to rip when he picked it up and soon it had been left out on the curb with the rest of the destruction.   
  
Exhausted, he slumped into his living room chair as his mind churned, trying to decide what he was going to do. He had the money in his bank account to deal with the damage, but it would take most of his funds to do it. And what if the doglefox did it again in a week or so? As if on cue, the petpet dove into his lap, placing its paws on his chest and licking at his face. Unconsciously, he brought his unbandaged hand up and scratched the small animal between the ears, his expression or posture never changing.   
  
"Well, you knew enough to wreck the house....mind telling me how we're going to fix it?" he asked idly. The doglefox didn't answer, directing its attention to a fly that had made its way into the house. As it buzzed over his head, the small animal made a snatch at the air, his sharp teeth closing with a snap on the tiny insect. "Snap, hmm?" Dr. Death muttered. "Alright...its better than calling you some of the names that have crossed my mind earlier...." The doglefox wagged its tail, yawning hugely...as it did so, the fly buzzed out of its jaws and flew quickly away.   
  
Dr. Death bit his lip and then chuckled at the petpet's misfortune as it wondered where its captive had gotten to. He felt the last of his resentment for the doglefox wither and die as he looked at it. Maybe Karma had assumed right when she had brought the creature into his life. It had been so long since he'd cared for a petpet of any sort that he'd almost forgotten how. "Well, Snap, do you care to go grocery shopping with me?" he asked his pet, standing and carrying the doglefox across the room as he unhooked a black windbreaker from where it hung on the hook behind his front door and put it on, tucking Snap inside of it as he zipped it up halfway. The doglefox wriggled and then poked his head out the top, wagging its tail and obviously pleased with its new perch as the doctor checked his pockets to make sure he had his keys and checkbook before heading out, locking the door behind him.  
  
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~   
  
"Can we get this?" Yahoo asked, tugging a nearly-transparent blue/white box off of the shelf. Karma read the letters imprinted on the front as "Crystal Crunch".   
  
"How much is it?" she asked as the cybunny searched for the price tag.   
  
"Umm....five hundred neopoints?" he asked, looking hopeful.  
  
"Put it back." she smirked. "We can't splurge quite THAT much yet."  
  
"Hmph..." Yahoo grumbled, stuffing the Crystal Crunch back on the shelf as he eyed the contents of their shopping basket. Wheat Flakes, five tins of olives, several cans of baked beans, and two fresh baggusses. Yuck...how boring.  
  
"How about that then?" he asked, pointing at a box of chocolate moehogs nearby. "Those're only twenty-five neopoints." Karma hesitated and then sighed, pulling the box of treats off of the shelf and dropping them into the basket. "YESSS!!!" the cybunny cheered, punching the air.   
  
"Oh come on, is the food I'm getting REALLY that bad?" the frog asked her pet. Yahoo, instead of answering, feigned gagging in the middle of the aisle, rolling over and kicking his feet into the air. "Yahoo, people are staring." she informed him indulgently as the cybunny hopped to his feet and followed at the side of the cart once again. "I think maybe I'll see what we can find in the soda section and then we'll be done. Sound good?" she asked her pet.   
  
"I guess so." he shrugged, looking about the isle for other things he might be able to persuade her to buy. "Urgh....don't look now, but your boyfriend's here."   
  
"Huh?" Karma asked, not quite hearing what he had said as she turned her head....and then she saw what Yahoo had seen. Dr. Death was standing near the fruit counter, reading the back of a box of juppie mix, not in his normal pound uniform....probably why she had missed him. From where she stood, she could see the doglefox she had given him earlier, poking out of the top of his jacket, and excitedly sniffing the air, taking in the plethora of sights and sounds around him.  
  
"Well?" the cybunny asked.  
  
"Well what?" Karma inquired.  
  
"Go on!" he urged, giving her legs a shove.   
  
"No, he's shopping. Let's leave him alone." she said quickly.   
  
"Don't be such a flightning bug." Yahoo teased. "What's the worst that could happen?"  
  
"He could tell me to leave him the hell alone..." Karma replied.   
  
"Aright, true, but you'll never know until you ask." he said decisively. She groaned...and hated to admit it, but her pet was right.   
  
"Okay, okay....but don't embarrass me in front of him, alright?"   
  
"Can do easy." Yahoo assured her. Swallowing hard, Karma stepped away from her cart and walked up to the doctor.   
  
The techo didn't notice her until she was nearly touching noses with him and jolted a bit when she spoke.  
  
"Hi." she said faintly, nearly making him drop the box he had been holding.   
  
"What do you want?" he asked.  
  
"I just....I wondered how your doglefox was doing." she said awkwardly, forcing a smile. "I can leave if I'm bothering you." He regarded her quietly for a moment before setting the box in his cart.   
  
"You're not bothering me." he told her quietly. "And as you can see, he's fine." he told her, gesturing to the cheeky petpet riding in his coat. Karma smiled a bit.  
  
"Thought of a name?" she asked. He was silent a moment, his eyes wandering to a rack of puntec fruit beside him. Thinking he wasn't going to answer her, Karma prepared to change the subject.  
  
"Snap." he informed her.  
  
"It fits." she chuckled as the doglefox lulled his tongue out of his mouth and gave her a canine grin. "Well, I'll let you get back to what you were doing. I don't want to harrass." she added quickly, turning to walk away, her courage spent.   
  
"He ransacked my house, you know..." the doctor called after her, making her freeze and look slowly over her shoulder.  
  
"Did he?" she asked in a small, guilty voice.  
  
"He did...and at the risk of sounding insane, its one of the best things that's happened to me in awhile. So consider the debt for saving your cybunny paid in full." he told her. He didn't smile, but the cruel edge that was usually in his eyes and voice wasn't there either. Ridiculously, she felt her face grow hot and knew she was blushing.   
  
"Okay..." she muttered, turning again and this time walking away quickly. The doctor watched her go and when she had disappeared into a neighboring isle he returned his attention to his shopping.  
  
"So what do you think, Snap?" he asked the petpet as he looked over what was in the cart.  
  
"Myarf?"  
  
"I think Rose might be right about that girl and how she feels." the techo muttered, no longer directly talking to the doglefox but talking more to himself. "....and how am I supposed to deal with that?" he added, giving the petpet a skritch. Snap gave no answer and only wagged his tail, leaning his head into the skritches. The doctor sighed and shook his head, frankly at a loss. There were precious few people he could go to for advice on matters such as these and he dared not bring it to Rose because she'd make every effort within her to try and shove him and Karma together even if it meant manually doing so with rope and paste.  
  
He decided he and Snap had done enough shopping for one evening as they headed to the front to pay for their purchases.  
  
TBC.... 


	5. The Case Of The Missing Snap

For the next week or so, there had been improvements in Dr. Death....for one, he seemed less quick to anger when dealing with abandoners and for another, Rose had noticed he was a lot more personable in the mornings before they had begun their shifts. The first time he had actually bid her good morning without being prodded into it, Rose had been speechless. On a few occasions, he had brought Snap to work with him as company, but when complaints had gotten back to the employment office that he hadn't been taking his job seriously, he had been called in for a conference with one of the lesser Light Faeries to discuss priorities and why bringing pets to work was unprofessional.   
  
In the end he had agreed to leave Snap at home and business had gone on as usual as he had resumed the role of the sour-faced abandonment manager.   
  
However, outside of work, and closed in the confines of his house, he had rekindled some of what he had been before taking his occupation in the pound, doting on Snap as he had with the petpets he had taken in when he had been younger and still with aspirations of being a real doctor. Surprisingly, the two had adjusted to one another's company rather well as the days wore on and the few people that had seen the dramatic change in the techo's mood around his petpet could hardly believe he was the same person...  
  
But in public, it was business as always....  
  
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~  
  
Dr. Death took the blue pteri's name down on the abandonment form and took the neopet from its former owner.   
  
"....And don't sell him to any new people!" the boy insisted. "I love him and want to make sure he goes to a good home."  
  
"If you love him so much, why are you abandoning him?" the doctor inquired. The boy, taken offguard, looked to Rose for help. The pink uni only shrugged and smiled faintly as if to say "You did it to yourself, friend..."  
  
"Look, just do it, okay?" he snapped, fishing one hundred and fifty neopoints out of his pocket, slamming them on the counter and storming out.  
  
"Hmph....what a temper." the techo remarked, shifting his hold on the pteri a little as it attempted to bite his fingers.   
  
"You said as though you had room to talk." Rose teased with an impish smile, looking up from her paperwork.   
  
"I've bettered myself, Rose." he told her matter-of-factly as he turned to take the pteri into the back.   
  
"All right, if you say so." the uni surrendered amiably. "How's Snap doing?" she inquired, taking the conversation in another direction.  
  
"Oh fine." the techo replied, brightening immediately at the mention of the doglefox. "I've.....actually given some thought to painting him." She nodded but said nothing. In all honesty, the topic of Snap had gotten a bit boring, but she still humored it, knowing that it was something that interested him and something she could more often than not, get him into a sociable mood over. He looked as though he had been about to say more, but the pteri he held, finally seeing a vantage point, squirmed in his arms and took ahold of his coatsleeve, shaking it violently. There was a sharp purring sound as a seam tore.  
  
"Lemme go, ya old coot!!" the pteri insisted, flapping its wings violently. Try as he might, however, the doctor kept a firm hold on him.   
  
"Calm yourself, pinfeathers." he told the bird. "I've had better men than you try and escape." The bird continued to struggle for a few moments more before finally resigning himself with a deep sigh.   
  
"You're a jerk." the pteri snorted. "Just go ahead and sell me to Dr. Sloth for experiments then. See if I care. When he turns me into a mutant, I'm coming straight back here for you." he added threateningly. Dr. Death and Rose exchanged a mildly amused look before he carried the angered neopet into the back to deposit him in a cage for potential adopters to look at, returning after the avian had been dealt with.  
  
"You know, I'd like to find who's been spreading those rumors that I'm Dr. Sloth's understudy and crush them..." he remarked. Rose shrugged.  
  
"Snerts will be snerts." she sighed. "What can you do?"  
  
"I'll tell you what I'd *like* to do..." he sneered, and then trailed off, not really in the mood to go into detail. It entailed pain though. Lots of it.  
  
"Did Karma ever finalize that lunch she talked about going out with you on?" Rose inquired. He shrugged, his posture alone suggesting that she had struck a nerve.  
  
"Never got back with me on it." he told her. "And I'm not so sure I would have accepted anyway."  
  
"Ohhh, why not?" Rose chided.   
  
"Can you imagine the controversy?" he asked, raising a brow. "An owner seen on a date with a neopet? The Neopian Times would have a field day."  
  
"Oh come along now, you worry too much." she sighed, giving him a dismissive wave of her hand. "And you've said it time and time again yourself, you're not a pet." she added.   
  
"Bah." he snorted. "Such as it is, I'd like to keep my reputation out of the mud any further than its already sunk." Rose nodded, deciding not to press it further.   
  
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~  
  
Karma examined herself in the mirror, wondering yet again if the dress was overkill. She had bought it on impulse from one of the stores catering to neopets owners rather than the pets themselves. She had been enamoured with how it had looked on her in the store but now it seemed all wrong...too tight and too baggy in all the wrong places. She still loved the beautiful lavender color of the crushed velvet and the way it felt against her skin...but maybe it just wasn't for her.   
  
At length, she sighed and took it off, placing it back in the box and putting her T-shirt and jeans back on. As much as she wanted to turn Dr. Death's head, she didn't want to be brazen about it and she knew that flouncing into the pound wearing a dress such as that would look ridiculous and likely embarrass both her and the doctor.   
  
Never the less, she DID have business at the pound today. After a talk with Yahoo last night, he had voiced an interest in a playmate and so she had promised him that today they would see what they could find. She looked at herself again and sighed....how boring she looked. Her brown mane of hair draped about her shoulders in small waves, a lock of it clinging in a stray comma to her cheek. In the dim light of the apartment's small bathroom, her orange hazed eyes glowed like a pair of live coals and her frame was slender...just a touch beyond skinny. Nothing terribly interesting about her, she thought to herself bitterly.  
  
"Are we going??" Yahoo called excitedly from where he was posted by the front door.  
  
"I'm coming." she called after him, pausing to pull a small bottle of fragrance out from beneath the sink as she showered herself in a single thin spritz of it, scenting her very lightly with its honeysuckle content.   
  
"Yeah so's Christmas!" the cybunny shot back with a laugh. "Pyew...what stinks?" he asked, wrinkling his nose as she sauntered into the front hallway.  
  
"Its not THAT bad." she insisted.   
  
"Maybe not, but I've got a sensitive nose and it reeks from here." Yahoo replied, covering his nose with his paws. "Ugh...did you roll in it or something??"  
  
"Stuff it." Karma told the rabbit, smirking a little. "Let's go find you a brother or sister."   
  
"If you don't scare'em all away. They might think there's been a flower spill somewhere." Yahoo smiled and then galloped out the door as Karma chased after him playfully a short distance, slamming the door shut behind her.   
  
"I'll give *you* a flower spill!" she grinned. Yahoo squealed with glee as she caught up to him, snatched him off of his feet and mercilessly tickled him for a few moments.   
  
"Okay...okay, I give!" the cybunny cried amid laughter. Karma relented and set the animal down as they headed in the direction of Neopia Central. "Can we get a blumaroo?" Yahoo asked. "Ashley used to have one. They're fun."  
  
"We'll see." Karma told him. "I'd really rather get one that looks like it needs help."  
  
"How about a blumaroo that needs help? Best of both worlds." he suggested. Karma didn't answer as they passed through the square together and headed in the direction of the pound. The walkways weren't terribly crowded as most of Neopia's residents were still at school or out having a late lunch. As she neared the pound, she noted that it was active, at least, judging by the people going in and coming out...some with pets and some with none at all.   
  
She brushed past a happy young lady who was carrying with her two aishas, one glowing and one split, as they perched on her shoulders and mewed happily. Pound rescues, Karma guessed as she trotted up the steps with Yahoo close behind her and entered the building.   
  
"Hello?" she called, immediately catching the attention of Dr. Death from where he sat at his usual post, busily shifting through paperwork.   
  
"Hello." he replied in a voice that was dully professional. She crossed the room, standing in front of him a moment until he looked up from his papers and stared flatly at her. "May I help you?" he asked patronizingly.  
  
"Oh I don't know....maybe." she smirked. He continued to glare at her for a long moment.  
  
"I don't have time for games. What do you want?" he asked her. Karma inwardly cringed. Well, so much for being friendly. She was glad she hadn't worn her dress now.  
  
"I came to adopt again...or should I see Rose?" she asked.  
  
"Eh, Rose is refereeing the herd that's already in there." he sighed. "I'm on checkout duty today."   
  
"I can tell you're thrilled." she remarked.  
  
"Riveted." he answered disinterestedly.  
  
"Given any more thought to heading out to lunch sometime with me and Yahoo?" she asked. He flinched a bit.   
  
"I don't make a habit of fraternizing with customers. I told you that." he shot back in a voice barely above a whisper, recalling the lie he had told Rose earlier about Karma not getting back with him about the lunch date she had proposed.  
  
"Who's fraternizing? Anyway, whatever....I'll see you in a few." she sighed, shaking her head as she headed for the back of the pound. She wasn't offended per-sey, but found his high-handedness rather amusing. And, as much as she resented it, she still had her private feelings for him.   
  
As she pushed open the door to the back, she was first aware of the large surge of noise battering against her from the pets crying out to passersby from their cages, the constant babble of the people filtering through the cages looking for adoptees, and the clatter of cage doors once in awhile as pets were let out to be with their new owners.   
  
"Well, let's get started." she said aloud to no one in particular as she and Yahoo meandered toward the first aisle of cages. Almost instantly, the pets began to cry out and reach for her, all of them with hope in their eyes and some looking half-mad with desire to be taken out.   
  
"Oh please! Oh please pick me!! I'm a great pet!! I'll do anything you want! Did I mention I know how to clean house??" a red lupe babbled, bouncing excitedly in the confines of its small metal kennel. Karma examined him, reaching through the bars to see how he'd react. The neopet happily didn't just lick her wrist, but rather tried to swallow it, he was so eagar. She grinned.  
  
"Hey Yahoo, how about this guy?" she asked, picking up her cybunny and holding him in front of the cage to get a look at the lupe. With startling speed, the lupe's mood darkened as it growled, baring its teeth through curled lips. With a loud roar, it lunged at the bars, as though meaning to rip Yahoo to ribbons.  
  
"....I think I'll pass." the cybunny said, sounding a little faint as the lupe continued to growl and dig at the door of his cage.   
  
"Sorry." she whispered as she set her cybunny down. "He seemed to have better control than that."   
  
"Can't take the hunter out of some lupes." the cybunny told her as they lopped along for a short distance. Out of the corner of her eye, Karma saw a rather attractive neopet huddled in the corner of its cage and looking dejected. She turned her head to see a starry-pelted zafara peering out at her with large eyes. No sooner had the notion crossed her mind to approach it than a young boy shoved past her and ran to the zafara with reckless abandon.   
  
"I WANT HIM!! I WANT THIS ONE!!!" he all but screamed as he wrapped his hands around the bars holding the zafara in. Brightening instantly, the captive starry neopet lovingly washed its tongue over the boy's face and fingers. As Karma watched, Rose bustled out from between two of the aisles and hurriedly jingled through her keys to find the correct one to free the zafara. As the boy retreated back to the front of the pound, the pink uni cast an apologetic smile at Karma.  
  
"Really got to move fast around here sometimes." she chuckled. "Anything in particular you're looking for this time?"  
  
"Oh no...just looking." the frog shrugged with a grin. "Yahoo was getting lonely."  
  
"Alrighty." Rose smiled. From across the pound, another shout rang up.   
  
"MIZ UNICORN LADY!!! I FOUND ONE!!!" a little girl cried. Rose shook her head, rolling her eyes playfully.   
  
"Duty calls." she smiled, trotting off in the direction of the voice. Karma watched her leave before resuming her hunt, her eyes scanning the cages. The pets inside all looked equally sad and hopeful, but none of them seemed to cry out to her as her special companion.  
  
"Oooh pick me! I have a faerie snarhook you could sell!!" a faerie chia declared, holding up the confused-looking petpet. "But I'll only go with you if you're a millionare!" the chia added haughtily.   
  
"Will you shut up??" a grumpy-looking blue flotsam roared at the chia. "We're ALL trying to get adopted and you're making us look bad!!" Karma walked past them, leaving them to their argument and rounded the corner of the first aisle. Her eyes fell upon a pair of human boys kneeling and peering into one of the kennels.  
  
"I sat on my lunch once, and my sandwich looked like his face does." one of the boys declared.  
  
"No way." his friend snickered.  
  
"I'm serious...ugh, I think one of those things just moved."  
  
"Gross!"   
  
Karma cocked a brow, continuing to stand at a safe distance. Just what were they looking at? She fought the urge to walk up and see because she didn't want to feel like she was butting in, but intrigue was prickling her all over.  
  
"C'mon, let's keep looking. I gotta find a wocky so I can join that guild I told you about." one of the boys said after a few more moments of ogling whatever it was they had been staring at.  
  
"Just go to the pet stockhouse and get one, man." the other said. "What's the big deal?"  
  
"The big deal is I don't want some kitten wocky pooping all over my house!" he replied. "I wanna get one that's already been broken in!" as they disappeared into another corner of the pound, Karma moved forward almost too quickly, kneeling to see what they had been looking at and gasped. Inside the cage, staring out at her with cow-like black eyes was a blue reptile of some sort, its body covered in pink fleshy lumps.   
  
"Hi there." she said tentatively as it looked levelly at her. "What's your name?" The creature made no motion to reply, and cocked its head questioningly.   
  
"UGH!!" Yahoo announced as he muscled in beside Karma to look at the pet. "That's the ugliest case of neowarts I've ever seen!"  
  
"Is it curable?" she asked, reaching through the bars to gently pat the creature.   
  
"Yeah but the fungus to cure it with costs a fortune." the cybunny lamented. She fell silent, debating with herself on whether or not she ought to adopt this one. "We could always take him to the healing springs." he added quickly. "The water faerie heals pets for free....but she's not very reliable with her spells. Sometimes she just gives you a potion if she doesn't feel up to wasting her magic."  
  
"But that's good, right?" she asked.  
  
"Its good, but it doesn't cure." he explained. "And this chomby's going to need her magic or a fungus or else he's going to look like that forever...." he shuddered a little. Karma bit her lip, feeling like shuddering herself. The sickness made the blue chomby look utterly grotesque.   
  
"Me....sick." the chomby told Karma in a slow and even tone, radiating its dullness.   
  
"....and might want to pick up some books for him too." Yahoo added. "Ugh, nothing's more annoying than a dim-witted pet."   
  
"I'm sure he can't help that." Karma muttered.   
  
"Me sick." the chomby repeated, curling its tail around its legs and looking pathetic.   
  
"So what do you think?" she asked Yahoo.  
  
"I'm not sharing my bed with him." the cybunny sighed as his owner broke into a grin. Following suit with the other adopters, she called out rather than going to find the pound attendant.  
  
"Rose! I found one!!" she cried. There was a long pause before Rose scuttled around a corner and approached her.   
  
"Oh dear, our little sick guy, huh?" she asked as she sought out the key that opened the chomby's cage. "Now you DO know those warts aren't going to go away unless you heal him, right?"  
  
"Yes, Yahoo's already explained it." she smiled. Rose beamed as she knelt to unlock the cage and let the chomby out. Instead of leaping out as most of the pets did when they were adopted, he simply sat, looking dumbly at the open door as though wondering where the bars had gone.  
  
"Come on out." Karma encouraged, holding out her hand in invitation. At length, realization dawning in the blue creature's eyes, the chomby lumbered out of the cage and stopped, blinking bewilderedly at Rose, Yahoo and Karma.   
  
"Go home?" the chomby asked, looking hopeful.  
  
"Yup, we're gonna take you home, Einstein!" Yahoo grinned, clapping the dinosaur on the back.  
  
"Yahoo, be nice." Karma warned. The case of warts looked even worse now that she could see him fully. They didn't just cover his head, she saw, but protruded all over his body. It was enough to make her feel sick.  
  
"His intelligance level is also rather low, so you might need to help him along for awhile until you can get that fixed." Rose told her. "And chombies can be high maintenance. Are you sure you can care for him?"  
  
"Oh I'm sure." the frog assured her. "Its not like I have anything better to do than to watch after my pets, after all." Saying so, Karma worked her arms around the ill chomby and lifted him, grunting lightly. He weighed much more than Yahoo, but not enough that she wouldn't be able to carry him. "So do I talk to you about taking him home or the grouch up front?" she asked Rose, smiling a bit.   
  
"He's been in much better spirits lately since he's had Snap to care for." Rose informed her. "Whether he wants to admit it or not, that doglefox has done him a world of good. Its about time he comes out of his shell and realizes the entire world's not out to bite him on the tail."  
  
"Well, its not made him much more civil to ME, but that's good to hear, I guess." Karma answered.  
  
"Anyway, to answer your question, yes. He's in charge of the adoptions today because I need to keep tabs on everyone back here." she smirked.   
  
"Alright fair enough." the frog nodded.   
  
"I FOUND ONE!!!" a voice rang out. As Rose turned to answer the cry, Karma headed back to the front of the agency with her new pet. The doctor glanced up at her as he finished the paperwork for someone who had found a striped grarrl they were taking home.  
  
"We're busting somebody out." she informed him with a smile.  
  
"A limited edition pet, I see." he muttered. "Let's not mind the other pets that need a home as long as there's rarities." Karma narrowed her eyes a bit.  
  
"I had no idea he was a rarity and furthermore, he's sick." Karma replied, setting the chomby down and allowing him to walk on his own as she approached the desk. "On top of that, he's too dull to know his name." She took a deep breath and let it out again, calming herself. "Do you have it on record somewhere?" she asked. Dr. Death grumbled and pushed his seat backward toward a filing cabinet against the back wall. She waited as he pulled out a folder of "Yet To Be Adopteds" and filtered through it.   
  
"Chomby..." he murmured, looking through the species. Finding the tab he was looking for, he pulled out the files. "Blue chomby, male, admitted with neowarts, correct?" he asked, looking distastefully at the numerous pink growths on the chomby's blue hide.  
  
"That's him." Karma nodded.  
  
"His name is Akachomby23154." he informed her. "VERY creative name." he added, shaking his head as he stuffed the files back into the cabinet and slammed the drawer closed. "Are you taking this one home or are you throwing him back now that he's not quite the prize you thought?"  
  
"No!" Karma said, a little more loudly than she had meant to. Her patience was wearing achingly thin with the yellow techo who seemed to try and shoot her down at every turn. "What's your problem?" she asked, lowering her tone a bit when she saw a couple of heads turn to give her a quizzical look.   
  
"Me. And in about two seconds, you're going to share that problem." he grumbled as he wheeled his chair back to the desk and slid a fresh adoption form in front of himself. He didn't know, really, why he was being so hostile toward her today...something within him seemed to get his defense up around her lately. It was likely because he had the feeling that she was trying to move in and be "more than friends" recently....not that they had been friends to begin with.  
  
He filled out the form hastily, taking her information and confirming each line with a curt nod of his head, just wanting her out of the building and away from him as soon as humanly possible. He filled in the last few fields and hurriedly tucked the paper into the outgoing pile of applications. Karma gave him a single stiff nod of her head as she paid the fee before turning to leave.  
  
"I wonder what crawled up HIS tailpipe and died today?" Yahoo asked when they were outside.   
  
"I have no clue." Karma growled. "But I'm a little sick of it." She sighed heavily "I hope there's a cloud leaving for Faerieland soon....I don't want to be stuck at the Cirristation all day." she added, changing the subject.  
  
"We won't be stuck there all day." Yahoo assured her. "A couple hours, maybe."  
  
"That's still a wait." she replied glumly.   
  
"Me go home. Me sick." Akachomby lamented, blinking in the sunlight.  
  
"You'll go home in a bit." Karma assured him. "We need to get you fixed up first." As she said this, a fat raindrop plunked squarely onto her nose. ".....Lovely...." she growled icily as the more raindrops pelted to the ground around her. "Well guys, lets hurry and maybe we'll get there before there's lightning zapping our butts every two steps." The cybunny and chomby looked at one another and then followed after Karma hurriedly in the direction of the Cirristation.  
  
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~  
  
Dr. Death was more than relieved when his shift had finally ended and he had been allowed to go home as he sat in his living room, immersed in his latest book, Suffer The Children by an Earther named John Saul. He found that he was a lot more fond of books from Earth than of Neopia's books as they had a bad habit of vanishing in a puff of smoke that irritated his sinuses. Besides, he liked to come back to books later and read them again if the mood struck him and it irritated him, having to buy extras of the ones he especially enjoyed reading just to have them vanish again.   
  
So far this one was shaping up to be a rather twisted horror novel and he wondered exactly what the author's fascination was with children murdering children. Behind him, Snap whimpered, scratching at the glass door leading outside. It had cost nearly eighty thousand neopoints to replace and coupled with the new furniture, had all but cleaned out his bank account. He silently thanked whatever powers there were that he didn't have to pay monthly rent or he'd be out on his tail.  
  
"You want to go out in that?" he asked the doglefox skeptically. Snap looked forlornly over his shoulder at the doctor and scratched at the door once again, seeming to be heedless of the fact that it was pouring rain. "Alright, alright...." he sighed, pulling himself out of the armchair and approaching, He lifted the lock with a small snicking sound and drew open the door, watching as Snap bounded outside into the downpour. He waited a moment as he drew it closed again, expecting the doglefox to realize how bad the weather was and bark to be let in within a few minutes, but when Snap didn't return, he left the door and went back to his chair, deciding that the petpet had some energy to spend.   
  
Five minutes passed....and then fifteen. By the time twenty minutes had gone, Dr. Death had begun to be irked by Snap's lack of asking to be let in. Had something happened to him? Likely he was out rolling in the mud and looking forward to putting brown pawprints all over his pants when he was allowed back inside. The techo sighed, getting up from where he was sitting when twenty minutes had passed and went back to the back door, pulling it open.  
  
"Snap, get in here!" he called, snapping his fingers. There was no response...only the soft patter of the rain. "Snap!!" he called again, getting a bit more irritated as the shoulders of his shirt became damp. Again, nothing. Refusing to give in to the urge to worry, he walked a short distance into the middle of the patio and called again. "Snap, dammit, come on! Its cold out here!" he called again, expecting the doglefox to rocket at him at any moment and lunge at his pantleg with muddy paws, but nothing. A cold feeling of uncertainty stole over him as he abandoned his distaste for the rain and walked across the yard to the petpet house standing by the fence.   
  
He decided he was no longer going to scold Snap...if his paws were muddy, he'd just rinse him down in the tub, towel him off and let that be the end of it. "Snap?" He bent over, peering into the darkness of the little house. There was nothing there. He set his jaw, thinking. Where else could he have gone? He turned, his eyes skating the yard for other hiding places. The only other place he could see was the spindly plurby bush in the corner of what had once been his garden. He had lost interest in it two years ago and the bush had taken over and choked out any of his remaining plants.   
  
Hopeful, he hurried toward it and took hold of a branch, giving the bush a shake. "Come on, Snap, are you in there?" he asked. Nothing. Not even a faint rustle. A low panic stole over him as he cast another look around the yard to confirm that there was nowhere else that the doglefox could hide. Nothing. Feeling as though his stomach had dropped out of his body, he trotted around the perimeter of the yard, his eyes scanning the fence for any holes the petpet could have escaped through, all the while calling the Snap's name. The rain no longer bothered him as he searched and it occurred to him faintly, even now, just how high of a place the doglefox had in his life.  
  
When he had confirmed that the yard was empty, he hurried back inside, immediately going to the phone and punching in the number to the pound. The receiver rang hollowly in his ear as rainwater ran from his hair and nose in tiny rivers. "Come on..." he growled through clenched teeth. He knew Rose sometimes worked late, but even if she wasn't there, the night watchman should be able to help him. On the fifth ring, someone picked up.  
  
"Neopian Pound, we're closed, may I help you?" Rose's voice asked.  
  
"Rose!" he said abruptly. She paused a moment.  
  
"....doctor?" she asked, sounding confused. "Is something wrong?"  
  
"Its Snap." he told her, his teeth chattering as he shivered in the chilly house. "He's g-gone."  
  
"Gone? Did he run away?" the uni asked, sounding shocked.  
  
"I don't know." he paused, sneezed, and continued. "I let him out about twenty minutes ago and he just disappeared."  
  
"I'm sure he didn't just disappear." she said reasonably, trying to calm him with her voice. "Are there any holes he could have gotten out through?"  
  
"No...and spaces in between the slats either." he told her. "I need the number for the Petpet Lost And Found line." There was a pause and then a shuffling of papers.  
  
"Tell you what...you check around the neighborhood, I'll check mine when I get home and I'll place the call for you." she told him. "If he just got out, he might still be within calling range."  
  
"Alright..." he nodded, moving to hang up but thinking better of it. "Rose?"  
  
"I'm here." she told him.  
  
"Thank you."   
  
"I try, Doctor." she sounded as though she was smiling. "Good luck." There was a click as she hung up. He laid the phone back on its cradle, hurrying across the room to grab his black jacket off of the hook on the back of the door and pull it hastily on as he hurried out the door.   
  
"Snap!!" he called, hearing his voice echo back at him off of the neighborhood block. Around him, the rain continued to fall.   
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~  
  
"YOU SPIN ME RIGHT ROUND BABY, RIGHT ROUND, LIKE A RECORD BABY, RIGHT ROUND, ROUND ROUND" the rainbow boombox Yahoo had insisted on buying on the way home blared as Yahoo and Chomby danced to one of Karma's earth CD's that had arrived in the package of items she had shipped from home before moving to Neopia.   
  
They had visited Faerieland that afternoon and waited in line for the Healing Springs for the better part of an hour, luckily above the rain in the clouds instead of below it, otherwise they would have been soaked. The water faerie had been surprisingly generous to Chomby and had not only cured his sickness but had sent them home with a healing potion as well in case he had an overnight relapse. Without the neowarts covering his body, Chomby was much more appealing to look at and Karma was pleased with her decision to adopt him.   
  
They had stopped at the bookstore and picked out a selection of books to increase the blue chomby's intelligence and they had seemed to work rather well. For the first hour, Yahoo and Karma had read them to him one by one with aching slowness to get him to absorb what was in them, and by the time they were through, Chomby had eagerly been grabbing them up, reading them himself with startling speed, each one vanishing with a puff of colored smoke when he had finished them.   
  
He seemed capable of actual speech now instead of the broken monotone he had spoken in when they had picked him up at the pound and Karma watched with amusement from the sofa as the two of them capered around the room like a pair of sugar-high ping pong balls.   
  
"Crank it up, Yahoo!!" Chomby insisted, landing clumsily on the table and bouncing on all four paws.   
  
"Better not." Karma warned, even as the cybunny's paw touched the dial on the boom box. "I don't want the neighbors complaining."  
  
"Aww c'mon!" the cybunny protested. "When have they ever??" As Karma opened her mouth to answer, there was a timid knock at the door.  
  
"Speak of the devil." she smirked. Chomby froze as Yahoo quickly twisted the volume down to nothing.   
  
"Tell'em we're sorry!" Yahoo whispered.  
  
"Shush." The frog told him as she got up and headed for the door. "Just let me talk to them." The chomby and cybunny exchanged a worried glance as she undid the latchbolt and opened the door. "Sorry, were we---" she trailed off when she saw who it was. Dr. Death, wet and bedraggled stood in the threshold of her doorway, panting slightly. "....what are you doing here?" she asked for lack of better things to ask. "Better yet, how did you find out where I lived??" she asked, her annoyance from earlier trailing back. "I mean, you've got a lot of nerve treating me the way you did earlier and then just showing up unannounced and---"  
  
"Snap is missing." he interrupted her tirade. Karma stopped short, blinking at him. "I found your address in the Public Listings and you're the only other person I know of that's spent time with him." He drew in his breath, coughing briskly behind his cupped hand. "And I don't suppose he came here."  
  
"No..." Karma replied. "Are you saying he ran away?"   
  
"I don't know." the doctor replied. "That's what I'm trying to find out, isn't it?"  
  
"You don't have to be that way." Karma growled defensively. They dueled with their eyes for a long moment.  
  
"If he's not here, then I have no business here. Sorry to bother you." he spat, turning to leave.   
"Wait!" Karma called after him, disappearing inside for a moment to grab her coat off of the back of the sofa. "Let me go with you." she offered.  
  
"No." he replied firmly. "Leave me alone." he quickened his step toward the stairwell back outside, cringing as he heard her running up behind him.   
  
"We'll cover more ground this way." she insisted.   
  
"Look, I don't want your help!" Dr. Death snapped, whirling around to glare at her. "I'm tired of you riding me like you have been. What is it you want from me??" Karma blinked, bewildered by his sudden strike-out at her. "If its love, you're looking in the WRONG place. Do you understand me??"   
  
"I just want to help you." Karma said in a voice that was dangerously calm.   
  
"No, that's not all you want to do." he shot back. "And if you come with me, let's get something straight right now. You are nothing to me. You will never be anything to me. You gave me Snap to repay me for saving your cybunny. Fine. It was a debt, it was paid, we're through. If you tag along, you're just another pair of hands to find Snap. Nothing else. Get me, 'sweetheart'?" He turned to walk away, leaving Karma rooted where she stood.  
  
"You know, you can be a real bastard sometimes." she called after him, not moving from where she was.  
  
"Call it a hobby." he retorted as he reached the stairwell and went down, taking the stairs two at a time. He paused a moment as he reached the bottom, waiting to see if she had still followed him. Hearing silence, he continued. And then....much to his chagrin, he heard footsteps approaching. He told himself to walk faster, but found himself glued to the spot as he heard her coming down the stairs.   
  
"I'm still going." Karma informed him icily. "YOU might be a bastard, but Snap isn't." He opened his mouth to argue further. "Just shut up." she growled before he had a chance to speak. Dr. Death's jaws closed as she pushed past him and out the front door of the apartment complex. Once outside, she looked over her shoulder. "Well?? Are you coming or not?" she asked. Letting out his breath in a resigned sigh, he followed after her, wondering just where he had lost the authority he had tried to exert over her moments ago.   
  
As the two of them slipped outside into the darkness, there was a suffocating silence hanging between them, broken only by their footfall and the patter of the falling rain. Neither of them looked at one another as they moved until, at last, Karma broke the silence.  
  
"So where are we going?"  
  
"I don't know." he told her flatly. "I don't know where to look that I haven't already."  
  
"Have you checked around your home?"  
  
"Twice."   
  
"Back at the pound?"   
  
"Yes."  
  
"Tried the central?"   
  
"Most of it."  
  
"Then let's try the rest of it." she said decisively. He flicked his tail, annoyed at her certainty. "What part haven't you looked in?" she asked, the shadowed hulk of Neopia Central coming into view up ahead.  
  
"I don't know, from the toy shop on, I suppose." he grumbled. The streets were deserted except for the shopkeepers, standing on the stoops of their establishments and looking dejected at the bad weather that was bringing them lack of business.   
  
"Blasted rain..." Kauvara scowled, stamping a hoof impatiently as she examined the downpour from beneath the rim of her floppy witch's hat. "Those potions will spoil if no one buys them soon..."  
  
"Hey!" Karma called, getting her attention. The starry kau straightened up, smiling.  
  
"Hello there, can I help you?" she asked hopefully.  
  
"I was wondering if you've seen a doglefox around here." Karma replied. The kau's expression soured.  
  
"The petpet store." she mumbled, leaning against the doorframe. "If you're not going to buy then go away."  
  
"No, I don't want to buy one. This one got out and---" Karma trailed off as Kauvara turned around and retreated into her magic shop, the door banging closed behind her. ".....gee thanks a lot." the frog muttered.  
  
"We'd be better off just looking. Everyone's a merchant here and all they're concerned with is making money." Dr. Death explained.  
  
"It never hurts to ask." she replied sharply.  
  
"No, but your nose might end up pretty flat by the time people are done slamming doors on it." he snorted. They established that Snap was nowhere near the magic shop nor anywhere around it and moved onward. "This is pointless." the doctor said after a few more moments of silence.  
  
"Don't knock it just yet. What if he's here?" Karma asked.   
  
"In the pouring rain with no one around?" he asked. "You don't know Snap like I do. He'd be going crazy without someone around him. Hell, he has a fit when I leave him alone while I shower in the mornings."   
  
"I at least want to take a look around." Karma insisted, heading for the beauty parlor. Between it and Pizzaroo, there was a space of shadow. "Snap?" she called, taking a step into the darkness to investigate.   
  
"He's not in there." Dr. Death insisted, knowing Karma wasn't going to listen.  
  
"Shh! I just saw something move. Snap?? Here boy!" she called. The techo didn't want to say anything, but something felt extremely wrong about the situation. Something that made the hair on the back of his neck prickle. "Snap? C'mon, don't be afraid!" Karma called, venturing further into the alley.   
  
"Karma..." He said, his warning senses flaring. If she heard him, she ignored him. Now it was stronger than ever...the same feeling he got when trying to approach a cornered and angry pet in the pound...the same sense of forboding and knowing he was going to get bitten. Something stirred in the alley and, all too quickly, started toward them. "Karma, get out of there!" he cried, seizing the back of her shirt and yanking her backward so hard that she fell. There was a purring sound as her shirt ripped at the seam and she gave an audible whuff as she landed on her rear.   
  
In the same instant, a ragged and rather rabid-looking poogle emerged from the mouth of the alley, snapping its needle-like teeth closed on the empty space that Karma had occupied only moments before with a sharp clicking sound. It snarled, foam dripping from its lips as it shifted its rheumy eyes first to Dr. Death and then to Karma.  
  
"Mine....." the poogle growled, leering at them. "My home....monsters, leave!!" The mad poogle snapped at the air once again before turning and shambling back into the darkness of the alley. Dr. Death waited for a moment to see if it would return before kneeling to check on the frog.   
  
"Are you alright?" he asked. There was no concern in his voice as he did so, just mild curiousity.  
  
"I'm fine." Karma agreed, standing up and brushing distastefully at the large damp spot on the back of her pants from sitting on the wet pavement. "Let's look somewhere else." she added, as though brushing off the past event as simply having not happened at all. The doctor nodded and said nothing, realizing that the two of them were likely in for a long and rather unpleasant evening.  
  
TBC....... 


	6. Through A Glass Darkly

They were soaked, tired, and beyond irritated by the time they slumped through the doctor's front door. Karma paused in the doorway, wringing rainwater out of her hair and trying to ignore her chattering teeth. "I must look like a drowned rat" she thought to herself as she passed into the living room. Dr. Death disappeared for a moment and then returned with two towels, tossing one in her direction as he mopped at his face with his own. "Thanks." she muttered, wrapping it around her hair.   
  
"Put it in the hamper when you're done. And when the rain stops, go home." he told her briskly. Apparently it hadn't been enough to lose his companion, now he was saddled with her as well. "I'm going crazy." he thought to himself. "Wheeeee!" He watched as Karma wriggled out of her sopping jacket and looked for a place to set it. "Not in here." he told her sharply. "Over by the heating vent." he pointed to the grating beside the front door.   
  
"Yes 'sir'." Karma replied sarcastically with a mock salute as she went to hang her jacket up. As she did so, he slumped into his chair, not caring that he was still wearing his soaking clothes. His mind was a turmoil as he wondered just where his petpet had gone to. Images of him dead in a ditch or taken by Dr. Sloth came to mind and before they had a chance to form any realness to them, he quickly pushed them out of hand. No...Snap was simply missing, was all. Nothing horrible had been confirmed, therefore nothing horrible had happened.   
  
As the rain outside beat steadily on the rooftop, it occurred to the yellow techo that he needed something to calm himself with before he became a basketcase. Not a cigarette....he didn't make a habit of smoking in indoors and wasn't about to go out in the rain again. He got up from his chair and headed in the direction of the kitchen.   
  
"Where're you going?" Karma asked as she seated herself on the edge of his couch.   
  
"Nowhere." he told her. "Just stay away from me."   
  
He disappeared from her sight and Karma sighed, slumping her back against the cushions of the sofa. Part of her wanted to follow after him and make sure he was alright, but the rest of her had very strong reservations about it. In the end, she simply sat, resigning herself with a long sigh as she turned her attention to the rain outdoors, waiting for any sign of it letting up so that she could go home. As uncomfortable as she was in a strange house with an equally strange man, she felt that it would likely be a lot more uncomfortable walking home in the downpour.   
  
In the kitchen, Dr. Death opened the cabinet under the sink and seized a bottle around the neck, setting it on the counter and sifting through the cupboard for a tumbler. He was about to do something he hadn't done in months: methodically get himself drunk to the point of oblivion. The fact he would, most likely, wake up sprawled on the floor or the couch with a pounding headache the next morning didn't matter much to him at the moment...but taking the edge off of his twanging nerves did.   
  
Not finding a tumbler, he settled for a juice glass, and uncorked the bottle of rose wine, tilting it into the glass. The neck chattered briefly against the rim from the slight shaking of his hand as the pink liquid poured. The glass filled nearly to the top, he lifted it and tilted it back into his mouth, swallowing without tasting and proceeded to fill another. The alcohol began to take hold almost immediately, an unnatural warmth spreading through his chest and calming him with startling quickness as he drank back the second glass and poured a third....this time not drinking it immediately but setting it down on the table and then slowly allowing himself to sink into a chair as he pondered the day's events.   
  
There was only one possible conclusion, he decided. Whatever powers there were watching over Neopia hated him severely and were doing their best to doom him to misery for the rest of his life. He lidded his eyes slowly, not fighting the haze that had begun to fog his mind, but rather welcomed it. He had no idea how long he sat there, staring off into space, but he jolted as his nirvana was shattered by an all-to-familiar voice.  
  
"Now THERE'S a good solution to all of this." He cringed, turning his head slowly toward the entrance to the kitchen, already knowing who he'd see.  
  
"I told you to leave me alone." he growled, leering at her through glassy eyes.   
  
"I just came to make sure you were alright." Karma muttered, looking at the floor and rubbing at her upper arm. "You've been in here an hour."  
  
"Get out of here." he told her, becoming irritated when she seemed to have no notion of moving from where she stood.   
  
"I wish you'd stop acting like I'm out to get you..." she told him gently.   
  
"Maybe that would be easier if you'd stop trailing me all over like you were attached to me." he snarled. She backed away a step as he clumsily stood. "I want you out of my house." He said icily. "I'm tired of you, Karma. Between you and Rose, you're driving me crazy."  
  
"I hardly ever see you!" she argued. "I've talked to you maybe five times since I've lived here and been nothing but nice to you! How can you say I'm driving you crazy??"  
  
"I don't like being coddled, which is what you're doing. THAT is what's driving me crazy."   
  
"By being nice to you?" she asked in angry disbelief. "There's a pretty broad line between being friendly and mother-henning you."   
  
"Go." he told her sternly, stepping closer. "I don't want to make you."   
  
"Make me?" she asked incredulously. "Who the hell do you think you are?? Just because you're not happy with your life...."  
  
"Stop it." he warned her, feeling his rage beginning to bloom.  
  
"...and just because you're too insecure to get out from underneath your status and make some damned friends...."  
  
"Shut up, you prying bitch!!" he sneered.  
  
"....Doesn't mean you can treat the rest of the world like a pile of garbage and hide behind your job as an excuse for it---" Karma heard the slap before she felt it, a hot stinging enveloping her jaw as her head rocked back on her neck. She blinked twice, her hand reaching up to touch her cheek gingerly where his hand had connected, hot tears of humiliation stinging her eyes as she looked bewilderedly at the yellow techo.  
  
"I...." he looked disbelievingly at his hand as though it had developed a mind of its own. "God, Karma I---" She whirled away from him, storming into the living room.  
  
"You want me to leave? Fine. I'm gone." she said, her voice dripping with venom as she stormed to the hook she had hung her jacket on and yanked it off, heedless of the small sound of one of the seams tearing as it snagged the hook.   
  
"Karma....Karma, will you just LISTEN!!" Dr. Death cried, making her stare at him, her eyes smouldering.  
  
"What? Want to slap the other side so they match??" she asked icily. He flinched at her words.  
  
"No, I just---"  
  
"Then what?? I've tried everything else I can think of and now I'm leaving! That's what you wanted, isn't it??" Her voice rose to an enraged shriek and cracked. The tears that had been glistening in her eyes began to spill down her cheeks and over the angry red welt beginning to form on her cheek vaguely in the shape of his palm. He looked away, feeling sickened by what he had done as his rage deflated and replaced itself with guilt.   
  
She fumbled with her coat for a moment, trying to find the armholes through her bleary eyes, and watched in utter frustration as it slipped from her fingers and landed on the floor in a crumpled heap. Her first notion was to bend over and pick it up, but somewhere along the line, the idea was abandoned as she found herself slowly leaning against the wall and beginning to sob. She didn't want to cry in front of him...that was the last thing she wanted, really, but found herself helpless to stop as tears continued to spill down her nose.  
  
She don't know how long she crouched there, crying helplessly, but as she got herself under control again, she was aware that he had moved closer and was now standing over her, offering her a paper towel. She looked at it silently for a moment before drawing herself back up to her full height and wiping at her eyes with the back of her hand instead. "I'm fine." she said flatly.   
  
"I want to apologize." he told her, his eyes focused on the floor. Karma glowered at him, knuckling the last of her tears away. "I had no right."  
  
"No you didn't." she answered curtly. "Or maybe it was the wine making that decision for you." A red flush of humiliation rose along the bridge of his nose and he was unable to bring himself to look at her. The warm buzz he had felt moments ago from the drinks he had taken were gone and he was left in the coldness of sobriety.  
  
"You DO trespass more than you dare, you realize and I...."  
  
"Didn't you say you were going to apologize?" she asked snidely, cutting him off. He inhaled slowly, his breath hissing over his teeth and wondering if she honestly meant to be so irritating or if it was just her nature.  
  
"I'm sorry." he said lamely.  
  
"Apology accepted." she nodded, though the coldness in her voice said otherwise. "And maybe I'm sorry too."  
  
"You don't have to be." he muttered, wondering idly just where she was trying to take this. She looked at him, smiling a humorless smile that made his blood run cold.   
  
"Of course I do. After all, aren't I a 'prying bitch'?" she asked. He felt another flush of embarrassment.   
  
"I'll level with you. Nobody has ever tried to look out for me quite so much and I'm not used to dealing with it and what comes with it." he told her after a moment of silence, deciding it was a safe enough thing to say.  
  
"What about Rose?" Karma asked.  
  
"Rose, I'm fairly sure, would have the entire planet wrapped in swaddling blankets with a bottle in its mouth if it were left up to her." He had vaguely hoped that this might get a smile out of her to ease the tension, but her expression remained cloudy. Another long pause.  
  
"Why won't you let people care about you?" she asked, looking him levelly in the eye.  
  
"Because I don't need anyone to care about me. That's what I've been trying to get across to you." he answered, his gaze dodging hers and focusing elsewhere in the room.   
  
"Don't need, or don't *want*?" she pressed.  
  
"Both. I've taken care of myself for years and I've done fine. Just because I share species with a pet doesn't make me one."  
  
"Understood. But you'd think years of being called one of Neopia's biggest jerks might get to a guy after awhile." she pointed out, her tone much calmer and less-guarded than it had been.  
  
"You'd think that, but it doesn't bother me." he shrugged. "I don't give a damn what people say...that I take pets away, that I starve them, that I torture them, that I sell them to Frank Sloth, that I kill them in droves for the fun of it....it doesn't do any good to defend myself so why should I even listen anymore?"  
  
"Alright but WHY do they say that?" she asked. "The pets you and Rose take care of should know better."  
  
"Old rumors die hard." he sighed, realizing only after the words had left his jaws, that he had trapped himself. And now the questions would start, asking what rumors, what had happened, and all of that. He honestly didn't feel like getting out the old bones to gnaw on tonight. Instead, much to his surprise, she simply turned her head toward the window to look at the rain.  
  
"I know how that goes." the frog nodded faintly. "I guess its none of my business anyway." she added, stooping to scoop her jacket off of the floor.  
  
"Where're you going?" he asked.  
  
"Home." she replied simply, giving her jacket a shake to straighten it.  
  
"Its still raining." he pointed out.  
  
"I think the rain's the least of my worries about now." she muttered, fumbling her arms into the sleeves and cringing at how cold the damp nylon was. "And I wish you all the luck in the world finding Snap. I'm.....I'm sure he's fine." The uncertainty in her voice confirmed that she had been thinking the same thing that had crossed the techo's mind more than once...that Snap hadn't run away at all and had been taken. At first he had tried to mentally compile a list of his enemies who would have done such a thing before coming upon the realization that most of Neopia likely thought of themselves as his enemy and that anyone could have easily taken Snap out of spite or greed.   
  
"Bye." she said non-committedly as she wrapped her hand around the doorknob and moved to pull the door open.  
  
"I lied." he blurted out, making her pause and turn to look at him. "About it not bothering me about what people say and think...." He fidgeted a little. "It makes me miserable sometimes. Damned miserable."  
  
"I imagine it would." she nodded. "I'll see you later." she pulled the door open and took a step into the rain.  
  
"You don't have to leave." he told her, making her stop again. "I'm sorry I said so. I'd feel guilty if you had to walk home in this."  
  
"A little rain's not going to hurt me." she insisted...and as if on cue, a loud boom of thunder rattled the windowframes and made Karma shrink back into the house reflexively. "...maybe for a little while." she muttered, turning and walking back to the couch to sit down.   
  
He looked down at his hands to discover that he had been wringing them compulsively and immediately made himself stop, dropping his arms to his sides. He had no idea why he had suggested that she stay...especially when only minutes ago he had been set to remove her from his house manually. Lingering guilt, he told himself, sitting down on the other end of the couch and folding his arms over his chest.   
  
Quietly, not looking at her, he continued to mentally debate his sudden change of mood....and then suddenly, whether he wanted to believe it or not, the answer clicked in his head. It was because he didn't want her to have a reason to hate him. A REAL reason to hate him, unlike those that were quick to believe rumors that had no backing to them.  
  
"What's wrong?" Karma asked tentatively. Realizing he had been frowning, he relaxed his face again..  
  
"Nothing." he murmured. "Just thinking." He fell silent.   
  
"I may as well bite, I guess. What rumors were you talking about earlier?" she asked, her tone sounding anything but enthusiastic as she gave the dying embers of their conversation a prod. He inhaled sharply as though touched with icy hands as he wondered if he really wanted to open so many old wounds again and explain. Well....it WAS his fault for mentioning it, he supposed. And it seemed to be the latest psychiatric fad to not "bottle up" one's emotions. Hell, maybe he'd feel better if he got it all out into the open. But where to begin?  
  
"As long as I'm going to be delving into this, you may as well call me by my real name." he told her. Karma's interest instantly piqued.   
  
"Dr. Death isn't the name you were given?" she asked. He shook his head.  
  
"Glitz." he told her, bracing himself for her laughter. When it didn't come after a brief pause, he continued. "Its what my first owner named me when he brought me home."   
  
"You had an owner?"  
  
"Well, where did you *think* I came from?" he asked, a hint of impatience creeping into his voice. "You knew I was a neopet to begin with..."  
  
"Sorry." she said quietly. He cleared his throat and continued.  
  
"My first owner was a boy named Joey. I was his first pet and he had all sorts of dreams of doing great things in the battledome but....what can I say? I just wasn't much of a fighter. I embarrassed him for a few weeks until he dropped me in the pound in exchange for a better pet. I haven't seen him since."  
  
"That's terrible." she remarked, listening attentively, wondering how far he'd go until he lost interest in talking with her.   
  
"It gets better." he told her humorlessly. "I think I stayed in the pound for about three weeks before I got snapped up by someone who kept me for a week, never fed me, and then dropped me again the first time I came down with the Neezles. After another month or so, I was picked out as the fourth member of a rather wealthy family and shared a home with two spoilt acaras and one obnoxious usul."  
  
"THAT lovely shindig ended when they recieved a transmogrification potion as a side-prize in a trade they made at the post and decided to "experiment" on me with it. Needless to say the owner was not only unamused by her other pets' joke but was disgusted with the mutant I turned into and that marked the end of that homelife." He shook his head. "And if you thought it was hard trying to find a home as a plain yellow techo, just try finding one as a mutant."  
  
"Anyway, this time I was only in the pound for two days before Aislynn came."   
  
"Aislynn?" Karma asked. "Who was that?"  
  
"She was the only decent owner I had." he said, sounding almost wistful. "She and I were inseparable. When we had saved up enough from playing Meerca Chase together, she bought me one of Kauvara's yellow techo potions and turned me back to how I used to be. She used to tease me by saying she was going to spend all of our neopoints on a faerie paint brush and hide it in her safety deposit box so that when the faeries decided to bless techos with wings, she'd have the first faerie techo ever." he chuckled dryly. "Silly girl...."  
  
"Why'd she leave you?"   
  
"She didn't. She died." he said flatly. Karma jolted a bit upon hearing this. "Apparently she got sick...I don't know exactly except that she never came back to Neopia and by the time the word got to me on where she had gone, they also informed me that she was already dead. I ended up in the pound again...this time for the last time. Nobody cared, and nobody adopted me. After three months went by and there were no takers, I got pulled aside and was given an ultimatum. Either I could participate in a rehabilitation program that would train me to turn back to my basic instincts and teach me to be wild, or I could go to school, learn a trade, and earn a living."   
  
"I wanted to be a doctor." he said after a pause. "And since the doctor's guild wasn't very sharing in free classes, I took side jobs and paid off my tuition myself. When I graduated from medical school, I took some specialty courses on the care of humans as well. I wanted to be a shoo-in for whatever job I applied for. By the time I got back, both of the positions I had wanted had been filled so I ended up taking the next best thing....a part-time veteranarian and pound attendant."   
  
"At first, I loved my job and I loved seeing people and pets united with one another. I loved it so much that I almost could ignore the obnoxious people that abandoned their pets but soon I just...." he sighed, losing his train of thought for a moment. "I just couldn't stand it...all the sadness and neglect."  
  
"So you turned into this, then." Karma remarked.   
  
"Not overnight, no." he shrugged. "But if you had seen some of the things I've seen maybe you'd understand why I just don't care anymore."  
  
"Sad story, but it doesn't answer my question." she prodded. He narrowed his eyes a moment and then relented, realizing she was right and that he had completely avoided what she had asked. "You don't have to, Glitz..." she said, trying the name out. It sounded odd to her and didn't fit him at all...likely why he had dropped it, she thought.   
  
"No...I opened this can of worms, I may as well." he said, shaking his head and running one hand over his gray hair that had become slightly matted from the rain in a vain attempt to straighten it. He closed his eyes, calling all the details to mind. He hadn't forgotten a thing about how he had been laden with his nickname....hell, he could even remember the smallest things like the faintly obnoxious scent of Rose's violet perfume she had been wearing that evening. Clinging to these details, he began....  
  
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~  
  
"Ten minutes till closing." Rose smiled, taking a sip of her neocola as she went about putting the day's paperwork in alphabetical order for filing in the morning as Glitz did the same.   
  
"Thank heaven for small favors." he sighed, managing a small smile.  
  
"Caught ya!" the uni teased, pointing at him. The techo immediately dropped the smile and cleared his throat. "Ohhh stop." she chided. "Would it kill you to smile once in awhile?"  
  
"Nah." he dismissed her. "I just don't feel like it much anymore."  
  
"Is it the abandoners getting to you again?" He nodded a bit and shrugged with a forced chuckle.  
  
"Stupid, I know. Do you think I'm letting them bother me too much?" he asked. She squinted as though in deep thought.  
  
"Well, maybe just a TAD..." she said, holding her hooves as far apart as she could. "And they're starting to complain about you to the employment office, ya know."  
  
"Good for them." he muttered.  
  
"I know...they're in the wrong and the first thing they do is lash out at everyone else." she replied. "But you're going to lose your job if they complain too much."  
  
"Heh, I doubt that. How many people out there do you know of who hate themselves enough to saddle themselves with MY job?"  
  
"You have a point." the uni smiled. "And on that note, I think I'm going to go get a late dinner after we check up on the inmates. You want to go with me?"  
  
"No, I think I'll just--"  
  
"I'll pay....c'mon Glitz, are you going to say no to a free meal?" she teased.  
  
"Alright, alright...if you put it *that* way..." he trailed off as the front door opened and banged shut again as a heavyset boy with oily black hair entered, dragging a blue lupe behind him. The neopet whined and did its best to walk, but in the end simply gave up, allowing itself to be pulled across the floor, finding no strength in its legs to pull itself along. Glitz and Rose forced themselves not to stare at the ruined shell of the neopet as the boy approached the desk.  
  
"........can we help you?" Rose inquired, her sapphire eyes wandering back to the lupe who licked at one sinewy front paw and half-snorted, half-sighed as its sunken eyes looked plaintively up at her and Glitz.  
  
"Yeah, I gotta drop off this fellah here." the boy said, jerking a disinterested thumb at the lupe. Rose and Glitz exchanged a troubled look as the techo fumbled an abandonment form out of the drawer and slid it across the table with a pen. He was too distracted by the horrible state the lupe was in to grill the abandoner as he usually did. The room was utterly silent except for the scratching of the pen as the boy filled in the fields. When he had finished, he fumbled eighty neopoints out of his pocket, tossed them on the desk, and turned to leave.  
  
"Oh yeah, and its been awhile since he's eaten if you wanna take care of that." he added as a parting shot before pushing open the door and disappearing.   
  
"My god..." Rose gasped, walking slowly around to the front of the desk and approaching the animal. The lupe trembled, but thumped its matted tail once in greeting against the foor. "Oh.....my god...." she repeated as Glitz approached as well and crouched in front of the emaciated creature.   
  
"I couldn't agree more..." he said in disbelief. It was a mystery to him how the lupe was even still alive. Its ribs stood out against its skin prominantly and, even as he watched, tiny black insects crawled over the bridge of its nose and disappeared in its mangy fur, and he could see large angry-looking red welts covering the beast's body. "This is.....disgusting." he said, swallowing and feeling as though his throat was lined with cotton suddenly. The lupe's paws slipped on the smooth tile of the floor and it whimpered, trying to regain its balance but lacking the strength to do so as it slid to its belly with a resigned yelp. A cloud of mites, upset by the sudden movement, all clustered into the air over the neopet's body before venturing back down into his fur again. One of them alighted on Glitz's nose and he hurriedly crushed it beneath his fingers before it could hide itself in his hair.   
  
"Let's get him into the back." he told the uni hurriedly, working his arms carefully under the lupe and lifting. The creature grunted but didn't protest as he was carried. Rose followed worriedly, wringing her hooves as they ventured into the small veterinary office kept in the back of the pound. Since the establishment had been built, Glitz hadn't gotten much use out of the small office as most of the pets that came in were perfectly healthy or had only a casual disease that would wait for the person who adopted them to cure.   
  
As he laid the lupe out on the examination table, it gave a groan, its side fluttering rather than rising and falling. What had happened to the poor creature? It was by far the worst case of neglect he had ever seen in his short medical career.  
  
"Is he going to be okay?" Rose asked, standing uneasily in the doorway.  
  
"I don't know..." he muttered, shaking his head. "Rose, go to the front and get the former owner's name from that form he filled out. I want to get a police report filed." he added. She nodded and eagerly left as he assessed the ailing neopet some more. The red welts on the skin indicated a case of neopox gone horribly awry but the neomites....he had never seen a pet with two diseases at once. The lupe licked its chops feebly and whimpered. "Shh....its alright." he soothed. "Not going to hurt you..."  
  
"Glitz?" Rose called as she poked her head back into the room. "He didn't leave his name." she told him. "Just a psuedonym."  
  
"Damn..." the techo hissed as his anger at the former owner of the neopet blossomed momentarily before he pushed it out of hand. "Alright...see if there's any neopox pizza in the freezer, I'm going to try and get rid of these mites."   
  
The minutes dragged on as the medication was administered and the techo and uni looked on hopefully for signs of improvement in the bedraggled lupe. Twice, Rose attempted to get him to swallow some water with no success and the creature seemed to have no interest in food.   
  
"Well...." Glitz said finally, dabbing a bit of ointment on an especially swollen area of the lupe's neck where the neomites had bitten him. "I guess that's that."   
  
"So what now?" Rose asked, looking worriedly down at the heaving pet.  
  
"Well, I guess we'll see if he survives the night before we make any long-term plans. I'd definately want to make sure that this one goes to a very good home." Glitz said matter-of-factly, though his voice betrayed his utter upset at the situation.   
"Yeah..." Rose muttered, looking doubtfully at the lupe. She didn't want to say anything, but she didn't hold high hopes for the creature. Its diseases that had been allowed to fester, coupled with the fact that it had been starved for lord only knew how long, made its survival look bleak.   
  
Hoping for the best, they bundled the lupe into a kennel with several blankets and a bowl of fresh food and left for the night.......  
  
The following morning, Glitz arrived to work early and headed straight for the kennel that the lupe had been left in. The few pets that were awake called out passing jeers at him which he managed to ignore as he crouched and peered between the bars. The food was untouched and the lupe's head was settled peacefully on its paws. He slid a hand between the bars, gently running it over the neopet's head. When the lupe didn't stir, Glitz frowned and undid the latch.   
  
As he reached inside and carefully lifted the beast's head, it lulled bonelessly to the side, confirming what he had feared and that it was dead. At the very least, it looked as though the lupe had slipped off quietly in its sleep...and he tried to assure himself that it hadn't had much of a chance anyway. He sighed in disappointment and worked his arms around the corpse, drawing it carefully out of the kennel and into his arms.   
  
The hard part would be getting it into the back without being seen. It was the first time any of the pets left in his care had died and he had a feeling that it wouldn't be at all well-recieved by the other caged pets that saw him. Taking a deep breath, he began carefully toward the back room.  
  
"Hey! Where're you taking him??" a cheeky red meerca called as it leered suspiciously at the doctor.  
  
"Shush." Glitz whispered. "Don't wake everybody up."   
  
"Oh yeah? Why not? You hiding something??" the meerca pressed. Glitz bit his tongue to keep from yelling....this particular meerca had been one of the more snide pound-goers he had had to deal with for the next few days. It occurred to him that with his luck the little rat would never be adopted and he'd have to put up with its antics for the rest of his career. Before he could answer, the meerca's beady eyes widened. "What's wrong with him??"  
  
"He's---" Glitz began. The meerca gasped loudly.  
  
"He's dead!!" the neopet cried, backing into a corner of his kennel. "HE'S DEAD!!!"  
  
"Huh? Who's dead?" a sleepy yellow gelert asked, blinking awake.  
  
"Gosh darnit, I was trying to sleep!" a green baby usul whined.   
  
"That lupe's dead!! That crazy jerk killed that lupe!! I TOLD you he was going to start putting us all to sleep!!" the meerca shrieked. Glitz's eyes widened at the accusation but before he could defend himself, the pound came alive with a flurry of frightened voices and shouts.   
  
"I didn't kill him!" Glitz tried to speak out, his voice lost in the excited chatter. "He died in his sleep, how could I have--"   
  
CLONG!   
  
He winced and staggered backward a step as one of the caged pets flung its food dish at him. Following suit, the air was soon alive with missiles as the pets hurled bones, bits of food, litter, bowls, water bottles, plushies, blankets, and anything else they could get their paws on. Glitz winced and dodged as well as he was able until he felt his back strike the wall as the barrage of voices assaulted him. "Going to kill us! Murderer! I hate you!"   
  
A thick marrow bone handed out to skeiths and grarrls when they were impounded glanced off of his temple and made him cry out, the corpse of the lupe spilling from his arms and onto the floor. It was then that he heard it....it began as one voice in the back of the clamour and spread like a fire across dried grass as others joined in the chant. Before long, they were all chanting it, rattling their bars and still throwing things at him, all of them seeming to ignore the dead lupe sprawled on the tiles.   
  
"Doc-tor Death! Doc-tor Death! Doc-tor Death!"  
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~  
  
".....and so that's where the nickname came from." he finished, his eyes fixed on the floor. The resurgance of the old memories had left him feeling surprisingly vulnerable. He could feel his hands trembling a bit as, in his mind's eye, he could still see the deep-lined contempt in their faces and feel the pelt of items hitting him.   
  
"......damn...." Karma managed to say. "That's.....god damn, no wonder you hate people." He began to wring his hands to hide the fact they were shaking.   
  
"From then on it just stuck. And as far as the rest of neopia is concerned, that lupe died because I killed it. I fought it for awhile and when it became clear that nobody cared to hear my side of things, I gave up. They wanted a monster and so I became one. But....I've never once killed a pet. I never would." he finished...and then lowered his head, fixing his eyes steadily on his lap.   
  
"I believe you." Karma offered. He didn't answer. "That's a crappy reputation to get stuck with, Glitz, but I think all things considered you've been big about it." He still said nothing, his hands wringing compulsively. "Are you all right?" She heard him draw in a deep breath and let it out in an uneven and shaky sigh.   
  
"I never....k-killed anybody....I---" he faltered. "I only ever wanted to he-elp and---" he broke off, trying to hold his inner dam together as it strained. In the end, he realized he was fighting a losing battle and that the outburst about to come was already long overdue and wouldn't be put off any longer. Gritting his teeth, the tears began to pour from his eyes as how unfair it all was began to sink in. Where he was, what he was doing with himself, how people saw him....this wasn't what he had wanted for his life at all.   
  
Karma remained silent, unsure of what to do as she realized that he was crying. She had never been particularly good at dealing with emotional extremes from her friends back home and wasn't quite sure what to do now, but she had a good idea of where to start as she tentatively put a hand on either of his shoulders. She suspected his first impulse had been to try and pull away as she felt slight resistance, but it only lasted a moment as he collapsed against her in resignation. ~What's wrong, doc, you've never been hugged?~ she thought sympathetically as a shudder racked his body.   
  
He sobbed quietly and deeply, as though fighting the crying every step of the way and allowed his head to rest on her shoulder. For the moment, it didn't matter that he was supposed to be irritated at her. Right now he would have hugged the Snowager himself if he thought it would be of any comfort.   
  
Karma wondered silently how long he had been bottling all of this...likely since the day it happened, she assumed, as she gently wrapped her arms around his back and held him. A minute or so passed before he drew away from her, busily wiping at his eyes with the back of his hand.   
  
"Don't you dare tell anybody about this." he told her, trying to bring his usual iciness into his voice and failing.  
  
"I wouldn't do that." Karma assured him. "Who would I tell even if I wanted to? I don't have any friends."  
  
"Good." he replied, sounding more relieved than snide as he said it, clearing his throat and heaving a sigh that filled every cavity of his chest and then let it out again as he brought everything in to perspective. He didn't feel any better, Snap was still missing, and worst of all he had just poured his guts out to someone he didn't like all that well. If anything, hell, things had just gotten worlds worse and he wanted nothing more at the moment than to just be alone in the dark and try to escape from the old demons of his past.   
  
"Are you alright?" she asked after a moment.   
  
"I don't believe I just did that..." he muttered, fixating his eyes on the floor.  
  
"Well, the world didn't end, did it?" she asked softly, placing a hand on his shoulder. He reached up, slowly brushing it away.  
  
"Please....just leave me alone." he whispered. Karma looked at him for a long moment before nodding and getting up.   
  
"For what its worth, I hope you feel better." she told him. He didn't respond, keeping his gaze focused on the floor. She sighed and quietly opened the front door, slipping out into the dwindling rainstorm. As the door closed behind her, the silence and solitude was oddly comforting and stifling at the same time as he turned sideways on the couch and laid down, pulling his knees to his chest and staring off into space as his tail wound around his ankles.  
  
He wished, for what had to be the thousandth time in his career, that he had everything to do over again. If he just hadn't been so eager and trusting, he told himself. If he had held out just a little longer instead of accepting the pound occupation, none of this would be happening. People wouldn't hate him and pets wouldn't fear him...that was the way things were supposed to have been.   
  
"But its not the way they are, so deal with it." an inner voice told him indignantly. "You took the job, people hate you, and what are you going to do about it, Glitz?" He told the inner voice to kindly shut up as he closed his eyes and willed away an impending headache he felt building. He wished Snap were there...even though it had only been a week, he had gotten to be comforted by going to sleep beside the warm furry petpet every night...and now he was gone.   
  
And now, though he was relieved to be rid of Karma, a part of him wished she had stayed for a little longer. Still pondering many things, somewhere along the line, the techo slipped off to sleep.   
  
TBC....... 


	7. If it returns, its yours to keep.

Sunlight cut in through the front window and stung Dr. Death's eyes through their lids as he stirred and groaned faintly, turning on his side away from the light. As his nose brushed against the back of the couch, he awoke, startled that he wasn't in his bed but rather in the living room. Before he could question it, last night began creeping back...and everything that had happened with it.   
  
He yawned widely and sat up, surprised to find himself feeling fully rested and without the irritating heavyness that usually came with waking. He ordinarily got about five hours' sleep a night and awoke with the sun in time for work, but today he seemed to have slept straight through the sunrise and....damn, what time was it? A sudden horror dawned on him. Work. He hadn't shown up for work! The techo sprang off of the couch and ran to his bedroom, quickly changing out of his damp clothes from the night before and not bothering to even glance at himself in the mirror as he hurried out the door.   
  
He arrived at the pound a few moments later and found a rather exasperated Rose seated behind the desk as she tried to handle both the adoptions and the abandonments at the same time. A look of blessed relief crossed her face as she saw him enter and make his way behind the desk.  
  
"Where have you been??" she asked, eyes wide and imploring as she gratefully handed over the stack of abandonment forms. "I called you four times this morning and you didn't pick up."  
  
"Sleeping. I'm sorry." he sighed, sifting through the pink slips of paper to see what he had missed out on.   
  
"You must have been dead to the world..." Rose pointed out, sounding a bit less frazzled. "Did you find Snap?" she added as an afterthought.  
  
"No." he sighed, feeling ashamed as he realized that, in his panic to get to work, he had forgotten about his petpet for a moment. "I was up late looking for him."   
  
"Awww..." Rose cooed, reaching out to pat his shoulder. "I'm sure he'll turn up."   
  
"I doubt it, but thanks." he muttered, finishing the forms and laying them aside as he was approached by a red-headed girl who meekly handed him a yellow aisha that regarded him with its odd slanty eyes with some contempt.  
  
"Name?" he asked.  
  
"I--I'm Stephanie." the girl told him softly.  
  
"No, I mean the aisha." he corrected. She jolted a little, looking at the floor.   
  
"Sunnie." she whispered. He wrote the name down.  
  
"And why is Sunnie going into the pound?" he questioned.  
  
"I--I---" the girl faltered and suddenly burst into tears. "No!!!" she cried, seizing her pet off of the counter and holding it. "I can't leave her here!!" Sobbing, Stephanie fled the pound with the rather surprised aisha in her arms.  
  
"Well....that was a first..." Rose remarked, blinking bewilderedly.   
  
"I suppose..." Dr. Death muttered. "Wish they were ALL like that." he added, crumpling the abandonment form and tossing it into the wastebasket as the next potential abandoner approached the desk, offering a striped uni. One by one, he dealt with them, filing the pets and caging them until the bustle he had arrived to had disappeared as Rose dealt with her adopters.  
  
"Thank goodness!" Rose declared, fanning herself with one hoof as she emerged from the back, the last young neopian emerging with an excited red usul at her side as they scampered out the door. "Running this place is most definately not a one-man job!"  
  
"I said I was sorry." He grumped.   
  
"Who was accusing you?" Rose asked, shrugging and smiling faintly.   
  
"I don't suppose anyone called you about Snap last night after you placed your ad, did they?" he tried, already knowing she'd say no. The uni shook her head.  
  
"Not as such, no. But he's only been gone a day. Don't write him off as lost yet." she assured him. "And on that note, I'm going to go on my break."  
  
"Alright." he nodded. "What time is it anyway?" he asked.  
  
"Almost noon. If I were mean-spirited, I'd tell you I was taking both my breaks and my lunch right now in one big lump." she chuckled. "And I didn't call you in as truant either, so don't worry."  
  
"Thank you..." he sighed, chalking up yet another favor he owed Rose in his mind. "Just go ahead and take your lunch now too, I guess." he added.  
  
"Oh no, I couldn't do that." she began. "I'd leave you alone here for two hours and--"  
  
"I left YOU alone here for four." he shot back. She paused, debating with herself.  
  
"Well.....alright." she agreed. "Want me to bring you back anything?"  
  
"I'm fine." he assured her. She smiled and trotted out from behind the desk eagerly, taking her shawl down off of its hook and wrapping it about her shoulders as she pushed open the front door and slipped outside into the sunshine. Alone and allowing himself a chance to think, Dr. Death found that, physically, he felt rather good today. He briefly wondered if he should credit any of it to his outpouring last night. At the time he had felt miserable, but without the heavyness of his past pulling on him as much, he had slept like a rock and, for the first time in months, felt refreshed. This revelation was brought to a halt, however, as a thin man with a goatee, toting three rather dejected-looking nimmos behind him as he sashayed up to the desk. Judging by the contemptious look in his eye, the doctor could tell that this man could only be here to abandon as he readied three forms with a sigh. Another one of those days...   
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~  
  
"C'mon Karma, get up!" Yahoo implored, perched outside of her bedroom door.   
  
"Any luck?" Chomby asked, poking his head out of the kitchen.  
  
"No." the cybunny huffed. "I think she plans on staying in there all day." he lifted himself to his hindpaws and rapped on the door. "Karma?"  
  
"Leave me alone..." her voice filtered out. "I just want to rest, guys, alright?" The chomby and cybunny exchanged a look with one another.   
  
"You don't think she's gonna abandon us, do you?" Chomby inquired worriedly.  
  
"Nah...." Yahoo told him. "She's just crabby. Probably had a fight with that idiot she's chasing after."  
  
"Yahoo, I heard that." the frog's voice filtered out of the bedroom. Yahoo flushed a bit.  
  
"Sorry." he muttered as he shuffled away from the door and lopped into the living room, flopping dejectedly on the couch. "Not MY fault you have a crush on a weirdo." he added so quietly that only he and Chomby could hear.  
  
"So where'd she go last night anyway?" Chomby inquired, flopping down beside Yahoo. He shrugged.  
  
"How'm I supposed to know?" the cybunny sighed. "All I know is she ran off with that techo and came back here all angry."  
  
"We should do something for her...." the chomby remarked wistfully, resting his head on his paws. "I mean, she DID rescue us from the pound and we're just letting her stew in there. We're supposed to make our owners feel better." There was a long pause and then Yahoo sprang to his feet.   
  
"I got it!" the cybunny grinned. "Girls are supposed to like flowers and chocolates and junk, right?"  
  
"I guess...." Chomby said doubtfully.  
  
"Great. Let's go out and get her something like that so she'll stop hiding." Yahoo grinned, his powderpuff tail wriggling with excitement at his new plan.   
  
"Like what?" the dinosaur asked.  
  
"Well....." Yahoo said, fishing for an idea. "Hey, they released that new valentines crap, right?" Chomby's face fell.   
  
"Yeah but you and every other neopian is trying to get their hands on it right now...." he replied disappointedly. "We'll never..."  
  
"AHA! Never say never! Its just a matter of pestering the shopkeeper till he gives us what we want so we'll leave." Yahoo grinned deviously. "Especially since they probably only take him a few minutes to make and he just wants scarcity. Now c'mon! Let's go!" Doubtfully, Chomby followed off after him as he scribbled out a quick note and stuck it to Karma's door before they both headed out of the apartment.  
  
Karma sat up as she heard the apartment door close and waited, listening for anything else. Nothing. Not even the hushed muttering of her neopets. Deciding that they had taken off somewhere, she sighed and swung her legs over the side of the bed, sitting for a moment. She hadn't slept well at all last night...the images of the story Glitz had told her haunted her well past the night and into the early morning. The lupe lying dead in its cage, the pets all taunting and throwing things....how terrible.   
  
She got out of bed and crossed the room, staring at her reflection in the mirror and groaned. Her hair stood out in ratsnests all over from the tossing and turning she had done and dark circles stood out under her eyes. In short, she looked like death warmed over. As she shuffled into the bathroom, deciding to see if a shower would restore any life to her complexion, she thought heavily about what had happened last night and wondered if Glitz sas all right. Truthfully, she had been horribly reluctant to leave, but decided there was nothing more she could do. Talking to her had seemed to make him worse rather than help him, and she had hoped at least one of them was able to sleep last night.   
  
She undressed and stepped into the tub, twisting the faucet on as she was showered in lukewarm water that slowly became hot against her skin. It occurred to her that she wished she had known who had taken Snap and wished all sorts of horrors on them. Apparently it wasn't enough that the yellow techo was snubbed by everyone in Neopia, but they had to kick him when he was down as well by taking his petpet. The more she thought about it, the less it seemed like a mistake or accident.   
  
As she poured some Peophin-brand fragrant shampoo into her hands to rub into her hair, she decided she would make a quick stop at the pound later just to make sure he was still functioning at least. Not a long visit though....the last thing she needed was another blatant accusation of her being prying and clingy. She was concerned, was all, she told herself. And after that, she would try and find out where Yahoo and Chomby had gotten to. Hopefully they hadn't run out on her for moping away the morning.  
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~  
  
Dr. Death sat quietly, dragging a pen across the backside of an adoption slip and randomly doodling. Rose had been gone for about an hour and the adoptions/abandonments had slowed to a trickle as the universal lunch hour settled in over Neopia. He still felt fairly well, but mentally was laboring over the loss of his doglefox once again. He had called the Petpet Lost And Found twice, and both times had been placed on hold for a lengthy period of time only to be told that no one had reported finding a doglefox.   
  
He had given up after setting the phone down the second time and decided that things would have to fall where they may as he occupied himself with his senseless loops and scribbles. As he began an uneven spiral up in the corner of the paper, he was shaken out of his half-there state by the door opening and what looked to be a rather wealthy girl striding in with a skunk usul in tow.   
  
"NO!! I DON'T WANNA!!!" the pet whined, attempting to dig its heels into the floor. The doctor shook his head, reaching for an abandonment form and preparing himself for another incoming.   
  
"You stop it at once, Azzie!" the girl scolded. "You're in enough trouble as it is!" The usul fixed its face into a pout as it crossed its paws over its chest in dignantly and huffed. The girl immediately softened her expression with almost frightening ease into a smile as she regarded Dr. Death behind the desk. "Pardon me, sir, but is your co-worker around perchance?"  
  
"Rose is out to lunch." he informed her disinterestedly. "But I'd be happy to help you." though he didn't sound happy at all, really. The girl's pleasant expression slipped a few notches as she picked him up and down with her eyes.   
  
"Well, she placed an ad on the Petpet Lost And Found last night, I believe. About a doglefox?" The techo jolted, his senses coming alive with a surge of hope. "And we think we may have found such a doglefox, don't we Azabeth?"  
  
"No!" the usul insisted, stamping her foot. "I found him, he's mine!!"  
  
"Azzie..." the girl warned.   
  
"He's mine!!" the skunk usul whined. "Mo-om, don't make me!"  
  
"Azzie, if you don't go out and get him out of your wagon RIGHT now and bring him in here, I'm cancelling your birthday party!" she threatened. The usul blinked, stunned.  
  
"But---"  
  
"And I'll cut your allowance." her owner continued. The usul's lip quivered as it realized that arguing was going to be useless.  
  
"Fine..." she growled, turning and stamping outside. Once she was gone, the girl flashed Dr. Death an indulgent smile.   
  
"She's wonderful, isn't she?" she asked. The techo had to bite his lip to keep from bursting out laughing at something that couldn't be further from the truth. "I don't suppose you'd be able to identify RoseMadder's doglefox for her, would you?" she asked, resuming her air of pompousness.  
  
"Actually, Rose placed that ad for me." he informed her, feeling a mild satisfaction as the remnants of the smile vanished from her face.   
  
"Oh." was all she managed. Something about the way she looked at him told him that, had she known the doglefox was his to begin with, she wouldn't have even made the effort...but that it was already too late to draw back now. She picked him over again, wrinkling her nose. "Ugh, your hair!" she remarked.  
  
"Eh?" the techo inquired.  
  
"What a mess!" she scolded, reaching into her coat and fumbling out a red long-hair brush and handing it to him. "Honestly! You think your owner would take better care of you!!" For a moment all he could do was stare at the offered utensil. "Well, go on, take it!" she goaded.   
  
"I don't have an owner." he informed her, forcing himself to close his fingers around the handle of the brush and keep his voice calm. "I've not had an owner for quite some time now..."   
  
"Well? What do we say?" she prodded, ignoring his previous statement. The techo gritted his teeth. Now he was supposed to thank her for humiliating him?? By some grace of god, he was allowed to keep his anger in check for a few moments longer as Azzie returned from outside, wearing a sullen expression and toting a doglefox behind her on a blindingly pink leash. Dr. Death felt his heart sink as he saw its buttermilk-colored pelt and sighed as the usul approached the desk, glaring at him.  
  
"He's mine." the usul said protectively once again.   
  
"Azzie, I'm warning you...." her owner began, trying to get a 'thank you' out of the doctor forgotten for the moment.  
  
"No, no....its alright." the techo muttered, slumping a bit in his seat. "Its not mine after all. Mine was brown."  
  
"Well, if you're sure..." the girl said, poorly attempting to feign sympathy and unable to hide the slight smugness in her voice.  
  
"See, mom??" Azzie said. "Now can we go home?? I hate this place and so does Dandelion!!" Dandelion? the doctor thought. Feh, what a ridiculous name for a pet.  
  
"Whatever you'd like, dear." the girl smiled, taking the usul by the paw as the spoiled squirrel-like neopet stuck her tongue out at Dr. Death. Rather than return her "pleasantries", the techo averted his eyes and attempted to return to his doodling. So close yet so far....ah well. As the usul, girl, and doglefox turned to leave, the petpet froze suddenly and dug its heels into the floor, whimpering.   
  
"Dandelion, c'mon. Let's go. Mummy's going to buy us some chocolate!" the usul grinned down at the yellow doglefox. 'Dandelion', however, didn't seem interested in the prospect of chocolate as his nose worked furiously at the air. After a moment, he began to thrash on the end of his leash like a hooked marlin. "Wha....Dandelion! What's wrong??" Dr. Death watched the spectacle with no amusement as the petpet struggled and seemed to suddenly be attempting to pull off of its leash. "Dandelion!!"  
  
"Don't yell, Azabeth." her owner scoffed. "Honestly! He's a little monster and I have no idea why you wanted him in the first place!"  
  
"He's not a monster!" the skunk usul complained, attempting to reel in the doglefox as it strained on the end of its pink leash. "He just doesn't like this place and I don't either!"  
  
"Join the club, kid..." the doctor muttered under his breath. Suddenly, with a violent twist, the doglefox came free of its leash and skittered eagerly across the pound floor in the yellow techo's direction. It paused, puzzled by the large desk that obstructed its way, and sniffed eagerly at the base of it as it trotted around the side. Finding its way past, the doglefox lulled its tongue out of its mouth eagerly and clumsily galloped toward the doctor, leaping onto its hind legs and pawing frantically at his pantleg as it yapped happily.  
  
"Dandelion, you come back here!" the usul demanded, chasing after the petpet. However, as she moved to grab it up from where it desperately clawed at the techo's pantleg, it lifted its lip suddenly, whirling and snapping its teeth shut bare centimeters from the usul's paws. Azzie squealed and stepped backward. "That's not nice!" the neopet squealed. "And after all I did for you! Gave you a nice bath, let you sleep in my bed last night...." the doglefox continued to ignore her, its tongue washing at the air in a vain attempt to get close enough to lick the doctor's face. "And then I bought you that silly paint brush and---" the usul gasped, covering her mouth as she realized she had just spilled the beans. Dr. Death came to attention instantly.  
  
"What....did you say?" he asked.   
  
"Umm....I....." Azzie faltered, realizing she had no out to this and so she tried a different tactic and pouted her lip outward, glaring at him angrily. "Yeah, so I painted him! You still have no proof he's yours!!!"  
  
"On the contrary..." the doctor said, looking down at the petpet. "Snap, down!" he instructed as the doglefox eagerly planted its rear on the floor and looked adoringly up at him, his tail wagging frantically. The usul seemed to momentarily make her face into a fist as she attempted to counter this.   
  
"Dandelion, paw!!" she ordered, reaching for the doglefox's paw. When it refused to give it to her, she reached down and grabbed it, giving it a shake and looking smugly at the techo. As she attempted to work her arms around the petpet and pick it up, the doglefox snarled warningly and bristled its fur. "Dandelion, what's wrong with you??" she demanded to know.  
  
"I want to know where you found this petpet." Dr. Death said, unable to keep a hint of accusation out of his voice.  
  
"The petpet shop." she shot back.  
  
"Azabeth, don't you lie to the man." her owner glared. Dr. Death was surprised by the girl's interference on his behalf and was certain she would have stepped in by now to tell him to leave her poor precious pet alone. "You came in last night and told me you found it on your way home from Manny's house."   
  
"Sort of." the neopet muttered, looking at her feet.   
  
"Define, 'sort of'." Dr. Death said darkly, his last doubts of the doglefox not being his vanishing as he leaned down and picked Snap up. The petpet happily wriggled in his hands, snuggling up against him and wagging its tail madly. He felt joy tug at his heart, but forced himself not to show it yet....not until he found out why this little brat had run off with his petpet.  
  
"He was just sitting out there in the rain." she said defensively. "And he was all wet and a GOOD owner wouldn't just let him get soaked."  
  
"Did it occur to you that perhaps he wasn't being LEFT outside?" the techo asked. "And that maybe taking him might have hurt someone?"  
  
"What do you care??" she asked angrily. "You were probably going to kill him anyway!!" He glared at her a moment and then reached for the telephone.  
  
"I have an excellent idea. Let's let the chia police decide." he said softly. The usul's outrage melted quickly into horror.   
  
"No!!" she squealed. "Mommy, don't let him!!"  
  
"I think you've made your point, sir." the girl huffed, stepping forward and kneeling to hug her pet. "There's no need to take things too far. She's learned her lesson." He paused a moment, one finger hovering over the dial pad before.....very slowly, he released the reciever and allowed it to fall back to its cradle with a clatter. "You have your doglefox back. Let's call it even."   
  
"I'm grateful to have him back, but to call this even...." he began and then stopped himself from going into a tirade about the hell he had gone through the night before. "Nevermind." he said at last with reluctance. The girl nodded her head stiffly.  
  
"Come along, darling." she said to Azzie firmly, pulling the skunk usul to her feet and pulling her to the exit. "I think its time to go."  
  
"Mommy, I want Dandelion back..." she sniffled.  
  
"I'll buy you a brand new doglefox on the way home, dear, and---" their voices trailed off as the door slammed behind them. The techo instantly seized Snap into a hug, smiling and not caring who saw him for a moment.   
  
"Look at you." he said to the petpet he set it on his lap ruffled its headfur. Snap gave him a large canine grin, panting a bit. "I wonder if that paint washes off....you look like a butter biscuit." Snap yapped happily at his words, leaping onto his hind paws and licking at his cheek. He smiled and, as he always had before, picked the petpet up and nestled it into the front pocket of his labcoat. Snap's pelt reeked of peophin fragrant soap and perfume, and the glaringly pink collar that had been put around his neck completed the ridiculous illusion. He chuckled a bit, reaching down to scratch the doglefox under his chin. "Do me a favor and go take a healthy roll in the dirt when we get home." he smirked, hooking the collar under his fingers and fumbling with the clasp until it fell away and he tossed it in the wastepaper basket. "You smell like a funeral parlor."  
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~  
  
"Oh c'mon!" Yahoo pleaded.  
  
"No." the breadmaster muttered around his mouthful of tealeef sandwich.   
  
"Eight hundred neopoints then!" he tried hopefully.  
  
"No."   
  
"Eight hundred and one?"  
  
"Will you let it go, little fellah? I already told you I can't just drop what I'm doing and make a valentines muffin for ya. I've got those things on such a long back-order list with Valentines Day coming up that its not even funny." the blue kacheek explained reasonably.  
  
"But our keeper would really like one..." Chomby put in. "And she's upset because the guy she likes keeps blowing her off."  
  
"That's a sad story, but the answer's still no, kiddo." the kacheek sighed. "Do you know what kind of riot I'd have in here if I played favorites?"   
  
"Alright then how do we get one?" Yahoo asked, sounding exasperated. The kacheek pointed at a long line of neopians all crowded by the currently-empty bakery shelves.   
  
"Wait for a restock and hope you're fast enough." he stated. The cybunny and chomby groaned as they turned and left the shop.  
  
"Well so much for that." Chomby muttered, sighing. "Think maybe she'd like a chocolate poogle?"  
  
"No we're not done yet." Yahoo assured him. "We're just getting started!"   
  
"I was afraid you'd say that..." the dinosaur groaned as he followed after the cybunny in the direction of the toy shop.  
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~  
  
Karma paused outside of the pound door, compulsively straightening her hair and checking her shirt for any stray stains. Having gotten Yahoo and Chomby's note saying that they were going to go spend the afternoon in the games center to give her some time alone after her shower, she had decided to take the opportunity to take another nap. At length, unable to sleep, she had given in to her urge to go and find Glitz and make sure he was alright after last night. She had braced herself for him to be in a horrible mood and to scream at her to leave as soon as he recognized her. An excited yap tortured her hearing as she winced, directing her attention to the front desk where the yellow techo regarded her with a blank expression of surprise for a moment as a yellow creature in his pocket wriggled.   
  
"What's that?" she asked, for lack of better things to inquire. Much to her surprise, his demeanor softened into a smile. Had she ever seen him smile before? She couldn't remember.  
  
"Like Snap's makeover?" he asked, sounding sarcastic but with good nature. Her eyes widened a bit.  
  
"What happened to him??" she asked, moving closer and examining the now-yellow doglefox. "Better yet, how'd you find him?"  
  
"Stolen." he replied, pulling Snap out of his pocket and setting him on the desk as the petpet skittered toward Karma and greeted her eagerly.   
  
"Stolen? By who?" the frog asked, picking Snap up and cuddling him.   
  
"Some self-righteous rich snob grabbed him out of my back yard and gave him a paint job." he sighed. "Its not a big deal. I have him back and nothing that she did to him isn't fixable."   
  
"Well good..." Karma nodded, handing Snap back to him. "Anyway, I have to get going."  
  
"Really." he said. "Where's the fire?"  
  
"Nowhere." she replied. "But no point in darkening your doorstep again." She smiled faintly. "I'm sorry for harrassing you so much, Glitz. I had the night to think it over and you're right. I've been a real pain in the ass. I didn't mean to make it look like I was obsessing over you or anything."   
  
"Its alright." he told her. "I was out of line last night anyway....not to mention, drunk." Karma nodded but said nothing. "I...ahh....I get off at seven and after that I need to pay the shop wizard a visit and see about finding a brown petpet paint brush for this guy." he began, breaking the silence that seemed to inevitably happen in every conversation they had. "I could use an extra pair of hands to manage Snap, if you're free."   
  
"Sure." she shrugged, sure he was just extending the offer to playcate her and make sure she didn't go away mad at him. Still, it was something to do. "Want me to meet you there?"  
  
"I'll come get you." he informed her. "I need to go home and get changed and I don't know how long I'll be. Especially since I want to give this little monster a bath. He smells like he was marinated in perfume."   
  
"That I won't argue with. And I'll see you then." the frog smiled.  
  
"Right." he nodded as she turned and left. He hoped she didn't think this was a date...because he didn't feel that it was. But he felt that he owed her SOMETHING for the way he acted the night before. Maybe if they parted ways on good terms rather than with static between them, things would be easier and they wouldn't have to keep playing the awkward game of deliberately ignoring one another. He didn't HATE her, really....or even strongly dislike her....but she seemed to rub him the wrong way all over when she was around him. He didn't really know why, nor did he precisely care enough to figure it out.  
  
Oh well....  
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~  
  
Karma had arrived back at her apartment and managed to make herself fall asleep for a little over two hours before coming awake, finding herself still alone. Chomby and Yahoo surely would have been back by now, she thought to herself. She rolled over in bed and fished the note off of her nightstand, reading it again.  
  
Karma,  
Me and Chombs had to go out for awhile. Might be a LONG while at that. See ya when we see ya. Don't hold dinner for us.  
  
Yahoo  
  
P.S. -- If you go out today, would you mind picking up some olives?  
  
So, nothing to worry about there. It sounded as though they knew what they were doing and, really, there wasn't much to be afraid of in Neopia. She had been scared to death of the various monsters roaming the land at first, but had learned that most of them were harmless. If not harmless then all they were interested in for the mostpart was putting a scare into people.   
  
What time was it, anyway? She squinted at her alarm clock, the digits reading 7:25. That wasn't going to give her as much time to get ready as she would have liked....oh hell, why did she need time to get ready anyway? It wasn't as though he had asked her out on a formal occasion. They were taking a quick trip to the shop wizard, he would likely ask her to hold Snap while he dickered with the shopkeepers, and then bid her a goodnight and want nothing more to do with her afterward.  
  
"So then why did you agree to go?" she chided herself. "I don't know, because I'm stupid?" she said aloud, grumpily rubbing at her eyes and thankful for her solitude at the moment as she tumbled out of bed and grabbed her hairbrush off of her nightstand. She didn't bother to turn on the lights in her room as she dragged it over her head a few times, smoothing out the tangles. That done, she left her bedroom and found her jacket, laying it over the back of the couch so it would be ready to go by the time he arrived.   
  
As she headed to the kitchen to scrounge up something to eat, there was a knock at the door and she whirled to answer it. Glitz stood on the other side, Snap in his jacket and hands in his pants pockets.  
  
"Ready to go?" he asked.  
  
"Yeah, just lemme get my coat." she muttered, grabbing it off of the couch.  
  
"You know, it doesn't cost too much to start work on a Neohome." he pointed out, casting a distasteful look around the tiny apartment. "And they're going to want to empty this place out for the newer members sooner or later."  
  
"I'll keep that in mind." she replied non-committedly with a shrug as she pulled on her coat and joined him in the hallway, closing the door behind her.  
  
"Going to lock it?" he asked.  
  
"No." she answered. "My neopets are out and up to something today and they don't have a key. I don't want them to be waiting for me outside in case they come back while we're gone."  
  
"Somebody could break in." he pointed out.  
  
"There's not much to take." she replied. "And I've got about ten thousand in the bank if I need to replace things if they do." she added with a smirk. He decided not to pursue this any further. "So humor me...who's the shop wizard?" she asked.  
  
"Eh...he used to be a sorcerer or something like that." Glitz shrugged as they headed down the front steps and down the street. "Now he sits at a desk and specializes in finding the lowest prices on things in the shops for people who don't like to wander for hours...which I don't."  
  
"Me neither...not at night at least." she agreed. "So where is this guy?"   
  
"Not far from here. Sometimes you have to look for him but he's usually by the money tree."   
  
"Ahh...never been there." Karma remarked.  
  
"You're new and you've never visited the money tree?" he asked skeptically. "Usually that's the first place people go."   
  
"Its always too crowded." she shrugged. "And I'm fine on my own."  
  
"To each his own." Glitz nodded as they walked together, the darkness shadowing the rest of Neopia. In the center of the bazaar, there was still a lively clamour at the base of a large tree. Now and then, a ghost would drift in and lay a bag of neopoints against the trunk and almost instantly, there was a mad dash for it. As they walked past, a fight developed between two girls who had both seized a yellow paint brush at the same time.  
  
"I saw it first, you tramp!!" one screamed as the other one burst into tears.  
  
"Gimme!!!" she shrieked. Glitz winced as they passed the scuffle.  
  
"Some people..." he shook his head as Snap barked at the fighting pair in passing. "Neopia never used to be this way."  
  
"I was wondering about that." she smirked. "And over a paint brush, for crying out loud..."  
  
"They're valuable." he explained. "You'd be surprised what some people would do for a few extra neopoints."  
  
"I guess..." Karma muttered, watching as the fight resorted in hair-pulling and more screaming. He stopped after a few more paces.   
  
"Huh. He's usually right about here." the techo muttered, looking at the empty patch of grass. As they stood contemplating the shop wizard's absense, a faint snoring sound could be heard from somewhere nearby. Karma spotted him first, casting her eyes upward to see an inert yellow fluffball perched in the fork of a nearby tree and sleeping peacefully, wearing an obnoxiously colorful cape and hat.  
  
"Is that him?" she asked, pointing at it.   
  
"None other." Glitz sighed, rolling his eyes as he approached the tree. "Having pleasant dreams, wizard?" he asked loudly, jolting the yellow fluffball awake to reveal a flustered-looking jubjub.  
  
"Oh dearie me!" he simpered in a nasal voice as he attempted to right himself and succeeded in toppling backward out of the tree and hitting the grass with a thud as he scurried to his feet. "Oh PLEASE don't tell the union on me! They'll fire me for sure!!" he babbled, scooping his hat off of the ground with one large foot and placing it back on his head.   
  
"I'm looking for one item in particular." Glitz told him, changing the subject.   
  
"One item in particular! Well you've come to the right place, yes of course!" Saying so, he fumbled a pouch of dust off of his belt with his toes and let it fall to the ground. In a bright flash, a desk suddenly appeared and he stood behind it. "There now, that's nice, isn't it?" the jubjub smiled at the techo and frog. "And what can I help you with tonight?"  
  
"I need a brown petpet paint brush." Glitz informed him.   
  
"Brown.........petpet paint brush....now let's see...." the wizard muttered thoughtfully. "I believe there's one at 5003 Plurby Lane for seven thousand....ohh, but then there's another at 7138 Cirrus Circle for six thousand and ninety-nine. Or maybe even...."  
  
"The lowest one." the techo explained.   
  
"Ahhh yes the lowest. I was getting to that, sir." the shop wizard informed him. "The lowest....the lowest on that particular item...." he murmured, trying to get his thoughts straight. "Ahh! You are looking for no less than 5434 South Coltzan Way! I see a brown petpet brush there for only four thousand two hundred and fifty. But I'd hurry if I were you, sir." Noting that a few other neopians that had overheard the shop wizard were eagerly heading off in the direction of the shop the jubjub had advised, Glitz hurriedly thanked him and broke off at a brisk trot, Karma trailing behind.  
  
As luck would have it, they managed to get to the shop's doors bare moments before the other hopefuls, and startled the shopkeeper as they barrelled in through the door.   
  
"M-May I help you?" The bespectacled wocky inquired, straightening his glasses as he collected his scattered wits.  
  
"Is your petpet brush still for sale?" Glitz asked.   
  
"Which one? We have many..." the wocky said, looking rather nervous as he averted his eyes. He recognizes me from the pound, the techo thought to himself bitterly.  
  
"The brown one." Karma chimed in before one of the others who stampeded into the store behind them had a chance to muscle in and take it. The shopkeeper nodded and reached into his pocket, fumbling out a ring of keys and found a small silver one that unlocked the cabinet under the counter.   
  
"I keep the valuables locked away." he explained. "It keeps the thieves away." Saying so, he slid open a panel and reached inside, fumbling for a moment. "Ah, there you are." he smiled, withdrawing a narrow brush, the end glistening with brown paint, as he laid it on the counter. "Four thousand two hundred and fifty." he said matter-of-factly.  
  
"Fair enough." the techo nodded, reaching for his wallet and opening it, taking out nine bills that were equivalent to five hundred neopoints each. The bank had developed this more obscure way of carrying money not terribly long ago as a way to divert the ghosts and other money thieves that loved attacking neopians that were carting a large bag of coins with them. Change was made and the paint brush swapped hands, despite the disappointed mutters of those behind them who began to leave or filtered about the shop, looking for other items of interest.  
  
"To the petpet puddle?" Karma asked after they had gone outside again.  
  
"I suppose." he shrugged. Snap yerfed once as though in agreement as the three of them headed off in the direction of the never-fading brilliant rainbow that touched the ground where the mystical rainbow pool was located, and slightly to its right, a smaller version for petpets.  
  
  
TBC........... 


	8. Here Goes

Author's Notes: Glad you all like the story so far and it honors me that I've kept ya all this long ^_^ Thanks for all the kind neomails and encouraging reviews. It means the world to me! :) Anywho, for those of you who've been chomping at the bit, wondering when I'm going to get to any potential romance, saddle on up, cuz here we go :) "The Rose" is (c) Bette Midler.  
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The painting had gone off without a hitch and Snap was restored to his original brown color. Glitz had set him loose to run around on his own for a bit while the paint dried as he and Karma sat down at the puddleside in the evening's darkness to wait. She grinned as the doglefox sniffed at the water's edge, experimentally putting a paw into the water and whining in confusion when it came back wet.   
  
"Goofball." she remarked. Snap looked up at her, wagging his tail a moment before bounding off into a clump of nearby grass. "Aren't you afraid somebody's going to run off with him again?" she asked.  
  
"I'm keeping an eye on him." the techo informed her grumpily, trailing the doglefox's movements out of the corner of his eye.   
  
"Alright." she said quietly, holding up her hands in a sign of peace. As they sat, he reached into his pocket and fumbled out a cigarette, poking it into his mouth and searching for his lighter. "Ugh, please..." she moaned, scooting away from him.   
  
"What?" he asked around the cigarette in his lips.  
  
"I just....I don't like the smoke very much." she told him, sounding embarrassed. He hesitated a moment and then plucked the cigarette out of his mouth and took out the box, putting the object of her loathing away. "Sorry, it just makes me gag."  
  
"Feh..." he muttered disinterestedly. There was suddenly a great commotion in the grass where Snap had disappeared to, making both of their heads whip in that direction. "Not even back for a day and he's already in trouble again..." the techo groaned as he stumbled to his feet and hurried toward the commotion's source. "Snap, what're you...." he trailed off as the petpet bounded out of the grass, something perched on his nose.   
  
"What's wrong?" Karma asked, having not stood but not liking the way he had stopped in mid-sentence.  
  
"Look at this." The techo called over his shoulder, sounding bemused. She approached, peering down at Snap through the darkening night as the creature on the bridge of his muzzle flittered to the top of his head, alighting between his ears.   
  
"What is it?" Karma asked, unable to get a good look at the small creature through the blinding crimson aura it was giving off.   
  
"Fire faerie." he replied quietly. The tiny evanescent being took to the air again, flittering in a small circle around Snap as he happily watched, making a playful snatch at her once in awhile with his teeth.  
  
"He won't hurt her, will he?" Karma asked. He shook his head.   
  
"She can heal herself even if he does. They're not as delicate as everyone thinks." The frog nodded, and they watched as the faerie zipped dangerously close to Snap's mouth and, as best as she could gather from the blinding glow around it, planted a small kiss on the petpet's nose. Snap momentarily glowed a soft pink before it faded again and sat, dazed a moment before sneezing, accidentally blowing the small being backward and into the grass. She gave a high-pitched cry and, unable to stop himself, Glitz snickered.  
  
"Always the gentleman, Snap." he remarked. Karma, however, was concerned, as she knelt and scooped the faerie into her cupped palms, examining her. The tiny creature sat up, goggling up at her through smouldering eyes.  
  
"You alright?" she asked. The faerie hesitated and then gave what looked to be a small nod before carefully standing, walking to the edge of Karma's fingers and launching herself into the sky again, executing a lazy backflip in midflight as she blitzed across the sky, leaving a fading trail of red light behind.   
  
"Well that worked out well." he muttered, walking a short distance away and settling back onto the grass. Karma followed suit and seated herself nearby him Nearby, neighboring the rainbow pool and petpet puddle was a small park that was usually packed during the day, but was mostly deserted after sunset. The blues and grays of evening gave everything a stoic quality, and overhead the stars slowly began to wink on as the first few crickets called out their tentative notes, joined by others as their nightly symphony began.  
  
"Pretty, isn't it?" she asked.   
  
"What is?" he looked confused.  
  
"Just the nighttime." she explained. "I've never actually sat and looked."   
  
"Hmm." he muttered, petting Snap absently as the doglefox rested its head on its front paws and drifted off to sleep. After a moment, he lifted Snap carefully off of his lap and set him down in the grass as he napped so that he could shift his position to something more comfortable.  
  
"What do they make you think of?" Karma inquired.  
  
"Are we on the same plane here?" Glitz asked, growing annoyed with Karma's ambigioity. "What does *what* make me think of?"  
  
"Sorry....faeries. I was just thinking of the one we let go....was woolgathering, I guess." There was a long pause and she cleared her throat, ready to try something else. Before she could, however, he answered her.  
  
"I don't know. They make me think of freedom until you consider that most of them spend more of their lives in a glass bottle than actually out flying."  
  
"That's kind of a pessimistic view to take." she replied.  
  
"Its true though." he told her. "Neopia made a regular business out of capturing faeries and selling them to people who want to re-release them and fanagle a blessing out of them....and then two weeks later they're caught again. That one you just released has probably been captured and let go more times than she can count."  
  
"Yeah, but she'll spend tonight free, at least. You're only as captive as you make yourself."  
  
"Your subtle symbolism astounds me." he said with flat sarcasm as he stretched out a bit on the grass.  
  
"Oh shush." she chided. "I'm just saying you can't be a slave to something if you don't let yourself. I wasn't even applying it to you." she paused a bit. "But now that you mention it, that advice might help you too, you know? Get out of the pound and get a real life."  
  
"I have a life." he argued.  
  
"No you don't. You get crabby at work and then you bring it home with you and Snap is the only one who can get within a mile of you." He struggled for a rebuttal to this and, not finding one, decided to change the subject as his eyes skated the scenery around them, falling at last on a pair of shoyrus giggling and necking on a bench partially shrouded by bushes.   
  
"Hmph, look at those two." he grumbled, pointing at them. "Don't they know people can see them?"  
  
"So?" Karma shrugged. "They're not hurting anybody." The shoyress, thin and striped, nuzzled her mate's neck and whispered something to him, making them both laugh.  
  
"Its sickening." he told her, plucking up a large piece of grass and busying himself by slowly tearing it into strings. "They have no consideration for other people."  
  
"So don't look at them." Karma suggested. "We're being watched too, ya know." she informed him, pointing coyly at a chubby green bruce, red aisha and yellow wocky that were sitting beneath a nearby tree and had been staring at them on and off for the past few minutes, breaking to talk amongst themselves, sounding as though their remarks were being made in mingled jest and disgust.   
  
"Lovely." he sighed. "Don't they have a home to go to?"  
  
"Its a free country....at least, I assume it is." It occurred to her that she knew very little about Neopia's history. She found herself amused by his bitterness of the other couple and fought the smile forming on her lips as she looked at him out of the tail of her eye. He finished with the first piece of grass and picked up another, beginning to tear it apart as well. As much as she had promised herself that as of today, she would nix any and all warm feelings she had felt for him, suddenly they flared back stronger than ever. The pity, the intrigue, the fondness and even the anger at him from before melded together into one emotion that she couldn't shake and barely control.  
  
"They're just upset that I'm here and wondering why you're not running and screaming from me." he added. "Its not like they have anything to look at." She bit her lip, trying to resist one final time as she told herself that it wasn't right and wouldn't do her or him any good to let on the way she felt. Despite this, the frog knew it was a losing battle.   
  
"Care to change that?" Karma asked, hearing the words come out of her mouth before her mind registered that she had said them. It was very rarely that she found herself acting purely on impulse. He turned his head in her direction, cocking a brow.  
  
"What're you talking a---mmph." the last word was muffled as he suddenly found her mouth upon his. His mind locked in mid-decision of whether to be terrified or outraged by this intrusion of his person. He had never been kissed before....hell, he'd never been close to a female before out of sheer lack of interest in any sort of romance. And now, he didn't know what to think, really. He couldn't pull back OR give in....and just remained rigid and blank. When she finally broke the kiss and drew away, he simply stared at her, the evening accentuating the utter confusion in his amber eyes. "What are you doing?" he asked, his voice a bit hoarse.  
  
"I'm pulling you out of your shell." she answered simply, smiling faintly and reaching up to touch his cheek gently with her fingertips. "Or trying to." She waited, inwardly cringing and worrying that he would be seized by a sudden outburst of anger. At length, he simply looked away again. "Glitz...."  
  
"Don't, alright? Just...don't" he told her sullenly, crossing his arms over his chest. He took a deep breath. "I'm a bad person, Karma. You don't want to get involved with me."  
  
"What if I do?" she asked, persisting, and placing a hand on his shoulder. He didn't shrug it off, but remained rigid, letting her know that it wasn't welcome.   
  
"No." he said decisively. He looked slowly back up at her, a single strand of gray hair hanging in his eyes. He shook his head and sighed, gathering up Snap. "I need to go."  
  
"But..." she began, and then relented, sulking as he walked away. "Goodbye, Glitz..." she sniffled, sitting alone for a long moment and ignoring the outburst of laughter from the group sitting beneath the tree behind her.   
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~  
  
"You idiot!" the techo cursed himself, pacing restlessly through the living room. Snap was seated on the sofa, watching him placidly as he ranted and raved aloud to no one. He had been doing it since he had gotten home and had reviewed over and over again what had happened in the park with Karma. "Son of a....Nrrghh!!!" he clenched his fists and trembled. "Alright....calm down." he told himself, since no one was there to do it for him. "Just calm the hell down." He said again, storming into the kitchen and yanking open a cupboard from which he yanked an unopened box of juppie cocoa mix and fumbled it uselessly between his hands for a moment before losing his already-shot patience and tearing it open recklessly, spilling the small white packets inside all over the floor.   
  
Rather than clean up the mess, he simply, grabbed one up and tore the top off, dumping the powder inside into a mug sitting on the sink that had been washed but not yet put away. As he twisted on the hot water faucet and filled the mug, he chided himself again for behaving the way he had. Things had been fine up until the last few moments when she had clearly overstepped her bounds, but rather than be civil about it, he had gotten up and left like a tantrumy child. And now she had her feelings hurt, likely was very upset, and he realized that the entire evening and his plan to extend the offer of a distant friendship was shot utterly to hell.   
  
Why did he care so much what she felt anyway? He'd sent hundreds of people home crying in his time employed at the pound and never flinched. Yet for some reason, the idea of the tree frog sitting alone somewhere and sobbing struck a very sour note with him. He took a long drink from the mug, not bothering to stir the cocoa beforehand as he pondered this. It occurred to him that the fact she had kissed him hadn't made him angry, really....nor had it hurt him. Well, what then? Why had he felt a sudden need to get as far away from her as he possibly could?  
  
He paused, as the answer washed over him tauntingly. He had been scared, that was what. He growled something under his breath, growing digusted with himself. Scared of WHAT? He didn't know, and frankly didn't want to pursue it any further. He drank off the rest of what was in the mug and put it in the sink, returning to the living room to pace some more. Snap hadn't moved from his spot and thumped his tail once in greeting, as though knowing getting excited would be useless right now with his owner's current state of mind.   
  
"I could go over and apologize..." he muttered, instinctively heading for the hook his coat was on and then shied away from it. "No, I can't." he corrected himself instantly. "What would you do?" he asked Snap, knowing he wouldn't get an answer.  
  
"Whurf?" the doglefox asked.  
  
"Nevermind." he grumbled, deciding that he'd go to bed. There was nothing else, really, that he could do that wouldn't involve bothering or hurting someone besides that as he stripped off his shirt and plodded toward the bedroom in resignation, not bothering to turn off the rest of the houselights. Snap pricked his ears and galloped after him, trotting into the bedroom and leaping onto the bed ahead of his master. The yellow techo took no notice as he finished undressing for the night, clicked off the bedside lamp, and climbed between the bedsheets, situating himself into a comfortable position. Try as he might, however, sleep eluded him.  
  
At length, he sat up again in frustration in his tangle of sheets and turned the lamp back on, staring into space for a moment. The clock reported that it was just shy of seven-thirty...and far too early to go to bed by his standards. He grunted and got out of bed again, retrieving his clothes and putting them back on before patting the mattress to attract his petpet. "What do you say to some fetch, kid?" he asked as he picked Snap up and nestled him against his neck as he left the room and headed for the back yard.  
  
He opened the back door and stepped into the evening air, breathing deeply of it as he set the doglefox into the grass and knelt to scoop up a small blue rubber ball he had gotten as part of a petpet care kit. Snap eyed it eagerly as he wheeled back and threw it into the far corner of the yard, making the doglefox chase off after it. No sooner had the ball left his hand then he heard someone sidling up to the fence and watched disinterestedly as a pudgy blue face peered at him and his petpet.   
  
"Got your mutt back, I see." Jespie remarked, smirking as Snap trotted back with the ball in his jaws, proudly plopping it at his owner's feet.  
  
"Shut the hell up." the techo grumbled, not in the mood to spar with his neighbor as he knelt to pick up the ball again.   
  
"Woah-oh! Don't WE have a case of the uglies today!" the tuskaninny remarked. He hefted some more of his bulk against the fence, apparently intent on staying for awhile. As Dr. Death looked, he noted with some degree of disgust that Jespie was clutching a large bowl of tropical pudding in the crook of one arm. "So tell me. Did he run away? God knows *I* would if you were my owner."  
  
"I think I'd pay to see YOU run anywhere." the doctor muttered, cocking his arm back and throwing the ball again, watching Snap chase after it. His patience was dangling by a single red thread....why had Jespie chosen that moment to heave himself outside? And as long as he was going to stuff his face, why couldn't he do it over on his back porch instead of inflicting himself upon him and Snap's time?  
  
"You wound me. I bleed." the tuskaninny assured him sarcastically, picking up the spoon that had been swimming in the citrusy green swill and shoveled a large spoonful into his mouth with a disgusting slurp. Snap returned once again, offering the techo the ball. "Tell ya what you need to make you stop being such a jackass, is a nice tumble in the sheets with some willing chickie, Doc." He threw the ball again, blatantly ignoring what the tuskaninny had just proposed. "C'mon, don't make me spell it out for you. You're a big boy now, aren'tcha?" Jespie pressed.  
  
"And tell me. How many of these 'chickies' have you had lately?" he inquired acidly. "And how many have run screaming into the night at the idea of you taking off your shirt?" The smug smile that had been on the tuskaninny's face slipped away.  
  
"You wanna watch it, you bastard." he said threateningly. Glitz, deciding he had hit his neighbor where he lived, pressed the issue a bit further.  
  
"And how many of them have you lost a date with because she had to stay home and 'wash her hair'?" he asked, chuckling a little. Jespie fumbled for an answer a moment before growing rosy in the cheeks with anger as the techo idly threw the ball again. Snap, however, didn't chase after it this time, as though sensing the tension between the two men, and instead sat down and watched the exchange.  
  
"You better thank your damn lucky stars that there's a fence between you and me right now...or else I'd come over there and---"  
  
"Sit on me? That DOES scare me. Who has the uglies *now*?" the doctor interrupted. Seeing that the conversation was quickly about to escalate itself from a mud-slinging match to actual blows, Glitz decided to be the bigger man about it as he knelt, scooping Snap up into his arms. "Sorry to cut this short, but I'm beginning to worry that I'll inhale some of the obesity fumes you're giving off and choke." he said flatly, turning and heading abruptly for the house. As his hand closed around the doorhandle, something wet and cold struck the back of his neck. He cried out and reached for it, pulling a mass of slippery green goo away from his hair and skin that smelled faintly of pineapples. The bastard had thrown a handful of pudding at him.  
  
"Oops. Slipped." the tuskaninny remarked, glaring at his neighbor. Glitz paused for a long moment, forcing himself to calm down before wiping away as much more of the pudding from his neck as he could and casting a single look over his shoulder at the tuskaninny.  
  
"Goodnight, Jespie." he said curtly, and slipped inside, closing the door behind himself. He set Snap down, wiping irately at the back of his neck to try and get rid of the rest of the pudding. The hair at the nape of his neck was still sticky and had begun to tangle itself as he sighed in disgust, heading down the hallway and pausing at the linen closet to select a washcloth before continuing into the bathroom and wetting it beneath the sink faucet, mopping at his neck with it. When he was satisfied that he had been cleaned to the best of his ability, he tossed the washcloth into the hamper, ventured back into the living room, sinking into his chair and sighing.   
  
The silence was stifling and made him feel irritable. Snap crept up from behind and gently nosed his hand, making him jolt a bit before distractedly scratching the doglefox's head. Maybe some music would help, he decided, getting up out of the chair and crossing the room to where he kept his stereo, a small model that shared the space on the third shelf of his bookcase with some of his other novels. He switched the radio on, instantly breaking the silence with a raucous voice that filtered out of the speakers.   
  
"Heeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeey-ey-ey-ey!!! Its the LIGHTNING ROUND!!!!" the speaker paused to ring a cowbell loudly and blather on for a moment in complete gibberish. "I'm ya host, Ace Rockola, and with me in the sidecar is the *LOVE* doctor, Dr. Drew. Lemme stop a minute to take a look at the time here...its....THREE MINUTES TILL THE TOP OF THE HOUR!!! BLAHBLAHBLAHBLAHBLAH!!!! Theeeeeeeeeeee witching hour!! YEAH, BABY!!"   
  
"Adam, you moron...." the techo sighed, shaking his head as he rotated the radio dial a bit. Now and then he was known to listen to the show in question in the evenings, but it irritated him badly when the co-host's high horse seemed to get out of its barn and resulted in...what else? The lightning round....an excuse for said co-host to make absolutely no sense for the remainder of the show. Several bursts of static and snatches of voices burst from the speakers as he sought a solid station, pausing at last as the final chords of what sounded to have been a lilting saxophone and base ensemble ended.   
  
"That was Jazzmosis's latest hit, 'Brokenneck Blues'." a female DJ with a smooth, soothing voice declared. "Coming up later, we'll have the latest from Two Gallon Hatz and also coming up, an interview with M*ynci's lead singer. For now, we'd like to close this hour with an Earther-song, brought in by one of our listeners. This one's for all you hopefuls out there. Saying so, a haunting piano melody began. As a rule, Glitz didn't care much for brooding songs, which this was judging by the key it was being played in...but on the other hand, he enjoyed piano music. His hand paused on the dial and then dropped away as the singer, a throaty-voiced woman, came in.  
  
~*Some say love, it is a river that drowns the tender reed.   
Some say love, it is a razor that leaves your soul to bleed.  
Some say love, it is a hunger, an endless aching need.  
I say love, it is a flower, and You its only seed.*~  
  
A love song...great. Just what he needed right now, he thought to himself as he crossed the room and slumped back into his chair. What was the big deal anyway? Love, frankly, made him feel sick. People were far too occupied with it and why? It made them act stupidly and do ridiculous things in the name of some intangible emotion. The thought occurred to him to simply get up and change the station, but he frankly didn't feel like it. With any luck, this wouldn't be one of those songs that dragged on for five minutes and then reprised itself.  
  
~*It's the heart, afraid of breaking, that never learns to dance.  
It's the dream, afraid of waking, that never takes a chance.  
It's the one who won't be taken, who cannot seem to give.  
And the soul, afraid of dying, that never learns to live.  
  
When the night has been too lonely, and the road has been too long,  
And you think that love is only for the lucky and the strong,  
Just remember in the winter far beneath the bitter snows,  
Lies the seed, that with the sun's love, in the spring becomes  
The Rose.......*~  
  
The song came to an end, the final piano chord resounding through the room and holding in the air for a long moment. The same female DJ spoke again, but this time the yellow techo didn't hear her. Something in the lyrics, despite the fact he had been rebuking the song earlier, had struck something in him that seemed to open an inner well in his being somewhere. He was lonely....very lonely, he realized.   
  
As he shifted his position in the chair slightly, something trickled down his nose and pattered softly onto his shirt front. Tears? He reached up, touching beneath one eye gently and looking numbly back at his moist fingertips. Apparently, the lyrics had moved him and he hadn't even been aware of it. At the same time, something clicked into place in his head with startling clarity.   
  
He didn't love Karma. That much was true....but he found that, despite his best denials, something in him DID care about her well-being. That explained why he felt so low for walking out on her at the park, he decided....but it was too late to do anything to fix it by now. He imagined that she was home by now and likely planning to stay away from him.   
  
The lonliness closed in around him like a velvet glove, making him squirm a bit in his seat. It had never bothered him before....but of course, he had never really noticed before either. One thought occurred to him as he brooded silently...and that was that he needed to do something about the current standing with the tree frog. Apologize, talk to her, do SOMETHING other than just sit there and leave things as they were.   
  
At length, he pulled himself to his feet and headed for the front door, yanking his jacket off of the hook. Snap trotted after him, looking at him in puzzlement.   
  
"Not this time." he told the doglefox gently. "Just behave yourself for an hour or so, can you do that?" he asked, knowing he wouldn't get an answer. Snap sat down and cocked his head, looking cluelessly at his owner as he shouldered on his jacket. "I'll be back soon." And with that, the techo disappeared out the door, locking it behind him. Snap sat still a minute, contemplating why his owner had rushed out again after only just getting home not an hour ago. Staring at the closed door, he whimpered a moment, and then turned and walked back to the couch, leaping onto a cushion and curling up upon it. It seemed his owner had left him to his own devices for a bit.   
  
Oh well...a shame to waste the time....the doglefox began to gnaw idly on the corner of the nearest couch arm.  
  
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~  
  
Karma sat alone at the table, absently stirring a bowl of neocrunch with the tip of her spoon. She didn't know why she had poured it....she hadn't felt like eating. In fact, the idea of summoning the strength to put a spoonful of the cold cereal and milk into her mouth made her feel ill. The apartment was eerily silent and dark except for the light in the kitchen. Half of her worried for the safety of Yahoo and Chomby and the other half was devastated by what had transpired that evening.   
  
She supposed it was her own fault for having been so forward. But she somehow hadn't been able to help it. Well, no matter. She didn't hold high hopes of him ever speaking to her again after tonight. In fact, she decided she'd feel lucky if he wasn't insanely angry with her. She could just see needing to go to the pound at a future date for something and being accosted at the door.   
  
The frog spooned up a bit of the cereal and slowly dumped it, listening to it spatter against what was already in the bowl. It occurred to her that she was being utterly pathetic...just like those women in the movies she used to watch who moped around like discorporated wraiths when the men they loved left their lives. She recalled laughing at them and swearing that she'd never let herself get that worked up over something or someone. Yet, here she was.  
  
Another bout of tears stung her eyes and she hastily wiped at them. Her cheeks were chapped from the tears that had been spilling down them since she had gotten home and she didn't want to make them worse. She pushed the cereal away and stood, deciding she would give her cybunny and chomby another hour before she put in a call to the police station to keep an eye out for them.   
  
From where she stood, she could see the last traces of daylight vanishing into utter darkness as she passed silently out of the kitchen and into the living room, pausing at the sofa and then slowly seating herself upon it. She had nothing especially in mind to do except sit there and count the minutes. Another pathetic idea. Glitz wasn't the be-all and end-all of her world....why was she acting like he was? She looked beside her and picked up a blue fuzzle that belonged to Chomby that had been stuffed between the cushions, turning it over in her hands. Its black eyes winked up at her from the dim light of the room and its small stitched smile seemed to mock her sadness. At length she tossed it aside and laid down, propping her head up on the arm of the couch and staring blankly at the paint blisters on the ceiling.  
  
Maybe she just wasn't cut out for life in Neopia, she decided. It was going to be awkward trying to live down what had happened earlier in the park of the onlookers had decided to spread rumors. She could just see people having a field day with it as a potential Neopian Times headline flared in her head. "OWNER HAS ILLICIT AFFAIR WITH LOCAL NEOPET"   
  
Just what she needed right now.  
  
She supposed she could go home, back to where she had nothing in particular. Go back to college, ask for her old job at the local R-Mart back, and give up everything she had worked for. She shook her head, shooing the grim, yet tempting fantasy away. No. She had worked too hard for all she had now...and what about Yahoo and Chomby? What would happen to them if she just left them on their own?   
  
Maybe she would just stick close to the house for the next few days and avoid everyone and everything. It sounded like a reasonable enough plan. And maybe once the rumors, if any had started, had died down then she could----  
  
Her thoughts were interrupted by a tentative knock at the door. She remained on the couch, loathe to leave the position she had sprawled in.   
  
"Its open, you guys, and you'd better have a good reason for being out this late." she called at the door, sure it was Chomby and Yahoo, knocking to see if she had gone to bed yet or not in hopes that they could creep in and fib about when they had gotten in tomorrow when she got up. There was an achingly long pause and then the sound of the doorknob turning and someone entering the apartment. She didn't look up to see who it was as she continued to lay across the couch, eyes focused on the ceiling. "Yahoo? Chomby? I promise it'll be a lot better if you just face the music about this..." she said. She had no intention of punishing them, really, but had learned early on with Yahoo that if she didn't exert some molecule of authority once in awhile, her pets would walk all over her.  
  
The footsteps approached and paused at the side of the couch. "Alright...just tell me where you guys were and we'll leave it at that as long as you didn't blow anything up. Sound fair?"  
  
"Karma..." Her subconscious recognized and placed the voice before the rest of her brain caught up and caused a knee-jerk reaction to it. She whipped herself onto her belly and goggled up at the shadowed form of Dr. Death standing over her, his posture awkward.  
  
"You...!" she managed in a choked voice, scrambling off of the couch to confront him. "What are you doing here?" she asked. And then, all at once, her emotions exploded forth. "Why don't you make up your mind, for gods sake, instead of jerking me around like this??" she cried, making him flinch. "Either go or stay, but stop playing this like you/hate you game with me!! I mean, I can't deal with--"   
  
He reached out, placing his hand over her mouth and muffling the last of her words as she glared at him, her eyes smouldering. Seeing that she wasn't going to fight with him for the floor to speak, he took his palm away from her lips and inhaled, ready to say his piece on the matter...but instead of words, he found himself tilting his head a bit, covering her mouth with his own, in the same way she had done to him earlier. He half-expected her to pull away and protest his sudden change of mood...but she didn't. Instead, she simply surrendered against him, abandoning the rest of the world for the moment.   
  
The same rush of fear and inability to think straight washed over him again, but he steeled himself against it, determined he wasn't going to have a replay of what had transpired earlier. The kiss deepened a bit, and then, before it could go too much further, broke. The two of them stared at one another for a long moment, both of them looking equally bewildered by what had just transpired. At last, he spoke, the strength sounding robbed from his voice.   
  
"I'll give this a try...." he hoarsely whispered, keeping his eyes levelly focused on hers. "That's all I can promise, Karma, I'll give it a try." He found that, despite the effort he had made, he still couldn't bring himself so far as to say he loved her, though there was most certainly something there that hadn't been before. A deep-seated fondness and patience that surely hadn't existed earlier that day, he was sure.   
  
Karma found herself unable to piece her words together and only nodded faintly. A smile ghosted about his mouth for a moment as they brushed noses, leaning in again....  
  
"SURPRISE!!" Yahoo cried, leaping in through the door with Chomby trailing close behind. "KARMA!!! HEY!! Where are you??" the cybunny asked, looking around, clutching something large and obnoxiously pink to his chest. "Figures she'd disappear..." he grumbled at Chomby who seemed to be focused on something else.   
  
"Uhh, Yahoo?" the chomby began.  
  
"I mean, we're out all day busting our butts to find this stupid thing and---"  
  
"Yahoo...!!"  
  
"What??" the blue cybunny asked irritably. Chomby took Yahoo's head in his paws and turned it slowly toward the living room where Karma and Dr. Death were standing close to one another, staring dumbfounded at them. Judging by the expression on their faces, the two neopets had just interrupted something between them. "Oh...! Umm...." Yahoo faltered.  
  
"Yahoo, Chomby, where have you two been?" Karma asked, relucantly pulling away from the doctor to approach them.  
  
"Oh...we were...umm....we....." Chomby whimpered, looking to the cybunny for help.   
  
"Umm...we got this for you, but we're really tired and we gotta go to bed now so nite!" Yahoo said hurriedly, tossing the pink thing on the table, grabbing Chomby and the two of them scampered hurriedly out of the room and into the den, out of sight of their owner and the techo. Karma looked after them in puzzlement, making a mental note to have a talk with them later. For now, she'd let them go as she looked at what Yahoo had dropped on the table.  
  
"What's that?" Glitz questioned, coming up behind her as she picked the pink object up, turning it over in her hands. A slightly overstuffed bruce plushie winked up at her through shiny glass eyes, a pastel satin bow tied around its neck. Karma smirked and showed him the valentines plushie. "Wonder how they pulled that off." he remarked. "Last I saw, those things were disappearing faster than Chuffer Bob's lunch."  
  
"Dunno." Karma smiled, laying the plushie down. "I guess now I can't turn into an ogre on them." she turned back to him. "Thank you for coming back and I guess you know you didn't have to."  
  
"I know." he nodded, rubbing awkwardly at his upper arm and looking at the floor. He cleared his throat. "I should....I should probably go now, Karma. I just needed to see you."  
  
"I'm glad you did." she smiled, sensing that the moment from before was gone and that they were both left feeling awkward again.  
  
"Just out of curiousity, what exactly does this make us?" he asked, feeling ridiculous for asking such a question.  
  
"Strangers with benefits?" she shrugged and then laughed. "I don't know. We can cross that bridge when we come to it." He smiled and shook his head.  
  
"I guess you're right." He paused a minute. "I'll see you when I see you, then?" She nodded in the affirmative.  
  
"Have a good night." she called after him as he turned and left, letting himself out of her apartment and closing the door gently behind himself. Well, that hadn't been so bad, he decided. He, actually, felt rather good about how things had gone....and felt that nothing, not even the fact that he was going to return home to yet another demolished couch, could put a damper on the relief and warmth he felt as he ventured down the hallway and began his walk home.  
  
TBC.......  
(yes there's more. LOL....it never ends!! o.o;;) 


	9. Uneventful Abduction

AUTHOR'S NOTES -- A moment of silence for the late Charles Jones. I owe the man a lot....he entertained me when I was young, gave me some of my best-loved movies/cartoons, got me interested in drawing, and made me admire him by continuing to do cartoons in online flash even when put into retirement. Chuck, I hope you went somewhere far better than this and that where you've gone has infinite cartooning tables so that you can continue to do what you love best.  
----------------------------------------------------------------------------  
  
  
"Someone's in a good mood." Rose remarked. Dr. Death looked up from his usual paperwork, cutting himself off in mid-smile as he cleared his throat and resumed his normal dark expression. "Oh stop pretending." the uni grinned, elbowing him in the side. "You've been on a high for the past couple days...so what's the good word?"  
  
"Nothing." he insisted, scanning half-heartedly over the body of a form before signing the bottom on the line that requested an official signature and laying it aside.   
  
"Spill it." Rose insisted, grinning gleefully, her tail swishing against the back of her chair in a soft whisper.  
  
"Rose..." he started, warning her with his eyes. She nudged him again.   
  
"C'mon..." she goaded. "You can tell me." a sudden impish light came into her eyes. "Its Karma isn't it?" she asked. He immediately looked away. "AHA!!!" she cried. "You two got together, didn't you??"  
  
"Shush." he told her sternly. The pink uni was not to be denied, however, as she put a hoof on his shoulder.  
  
"Doc, I'm happy for you!" she smiled. "Congratulations! How long have you two been together??"  
  
"I don't know that you'd define it as 'together'. And not long." he said quietly. "I'm humoring her, really. I don't have the same feelings she does and I don't think I ever will."  
  
"Feh. With the way you've been smiling when you think I'm not looking, I don't believe you for one red second." Rose replied. "You're smitten and you don't even know it."  
  
"Can we get off the subject of my private life, please?" he muttered.  
  
"No..." she said innocently, giggling. "Not till you tell me what you two have been up to."   
  
"You're pushing your luck, Rose." he growled.   
  
"For crying out loud, I'm just teasing!" the uni exclaimed, putting both hooves up in a show of peace. "I'll lay off, if you're serious."  
  
"I am." he grumbled. Rose immediately turned to face the front of the room in her seat, looking straight ahead for a moment before impatiently drumming the tip of one hoof on the table. At last, she lost the grip she had on herself and turned back toward him.  
  
"Did you kiss her yet?" she asked eagerly. He threw his pen angrily to the desk and glared at her. "Sorry!" she chuckled, getting up from the desk. "I'll be right back, I need to use the powder room."  
  
"Don't fall in." he muttered, glad for his co-worker's short absense as she trotted out of the main room. It was none of her business what he did when he wasn't working with her...and he hadn't wanted to tell her that, yes, he and Karma had made plans to go out after his shift was over. They had been officially "together" for three days or so, but nothing much had transpired, despite what the few that had found out about them thought.   
  
He had tried to treat their so-called relationship as he would the time he'd spend with a colleague...and most of their alone time had been spent simply talking. There had been an occasional nuzzle or touch of the hand here and there, but nothing he felt that Neopia could make a scandal of. What kept nagging at him was he knew she was tail-over-applecart in love, but he still felt that he wasn't. He liked Karma just fine...certainly more than he liked the whole of Neopia, but when he searched himself, he just couldn't find any concrete feelings for her beyond that.   
  
For the past couple of nights he had listened avidly to the Neopian relationship-oriented talkshow, LoveAid, and had been excited to learn that lots of people were currently in his position...but then disappointed to hear that the hosts' advice had been to drop whoever the caller was having issues with and move on. That just wasn't an option in his particular situation...and he had made himself a promise to talk with Karma about that tonight when they went for the walk they had planned.   
  
He cast a look at the clock as Rose returned and seated herself, feeling irate at the fact that there was still a half hour left in the shift. "Did you get the new adoptees filed off after lunch like I asked you?" he inquired as the pink uni made herself comfortable in her chair.  
  
"Yup." Rose replied.   
  
"What about the new incomings? Are they all fed and watered?" he asked.  
  
"Affirmative." the uni smirked. "Keep trying, doc, I don't think there's much you can get me on."  
  
"I'm not trying to "get" you on anything....I just want to make sure we're all squared away for the night." he defended himself, not looking up as he heard the door open and someone enter.   
"Ya know, maybe I'll just go make sure on those incomings." Rose said, getting up, her eyes no longer on him but on whoever had come in the door, a large smile unfurling across her lips.  
  
"But you just said---" the uni, however, was already trotting off in the direction of the back room. Wondering what had caused her sudden exit, he turned to look at who had come in and suddenly understood. Karma stood nearby, outfitted in a deep lavender casual dress. He cocked a brow at her. "This is awfully formal for a walk, don't you think?" he asked, watching as she sat down. The tree frog shrugged and smiled.  
  
"I bought it a couple of weeks ago and I'll be damned if I never get a chance to wear it." she informed him. He nodded.  
  
"Fair enough, I guess." he looked at the door to the back out of the corner of his eye, seeing that it hung open a crack and that peering through it was a single sapphire-colored eye. He cleared his throat loudly to let Rose know she had been seen and the door quickly closed again. "That woman...." he muttered. Karma laughed, unable to help herself.   
  
"So are you almost done here?"  
  
"Nearly...I just need to help close up shop for the night and we should be good to go. Where are we going, by the way?" the techo asked, gathering up the papers he had been occupying himself with and straightening them into a stack.   
  
"Dunno." Karma shrugged. "Any ideas?" He sighed, thinking. "Hey!" she blurted suddenly. "You ever been to the Haunted Woods?"   
  
"Yes." he replied disinterestedly. "Too commercialized. You can't go in there anymore without someone harrassing you to buy something."  
  
"Does much go on there in the evenings?" she asked.  
  
"Not really. It just attracts all the kooks and cults." he told her. "We can go if you want, Karma, I'm just saying its not one of my favorite places to be." She seemed to debate this a moment.   
  
"Yeah let's go." she nodded.   
  
"Alright." He made a mental note to stop off at the bank before they went anywhere, knowing he was going to get cornered by at least one of the merchants and harrassed into buying SOMETHING he didn't need or want. "Are you just going to hover around until the shift's over?"  
  
"If you don't mind." Karma smiled. He shrugged again.   
  
"I don't really mind one way or the other." He got up, gathering the papers into the crook of his arm and meandered toward the filing cabinet to put them away. No sooner had he opened the drawer and begun flipping through the folders, than the door slammed open and a skinny girl with short black hair walked in, followed by not one, not two, not even four, but eight sad-looking buzzes. The techo blinked...and then blinked again as she stepped up to the desk and folded her hands patiently on its top.  
  
".....PLEASE tell me you're here to adopt." he said, deciding not to jump on her just yet. The girl looked at him and then smiled with a sweetness that made his stomach retch.  
  
"Oh....no, I need to give them all up." she smirked, shifting her eyes back to the desk.   
  
"Eight of them?" Karma asked, flabbergasted. One of the buzzes, a red male, looked pathetically in her direction, a tear dripping from one large opalescent eye and pattering to the floor. The girl shot the frog a narrow-eyed look, soundlessly telling her to mind her own business.  
  
"Mind telling me how you've come by eight pets?" Dr. Death inquired, laying the papers down on top of the filing cabinet and crossing his arms over his chest.  
  
"Psh...adopted. Duh." she replied, her attempt to come across as polite apparently forgotten. "I got these guys because I thought they were supposed to be powerful in the battledome, but they're all a bunch of losers." Upon saying so, a small green female that had been standing in the back of the herd burst into wailing tears. Karma, unable to help herself, got up and knelt in front of the stricken neopet, holding her arms out to it in an offered hug. As the buzz noticed the friendly gesture and moved to accept it, the abandoner planted her foot angrily between Karma and the neopet. "Keep your hands off her." the girl ordered. "You're just gonna spoil her."  
  
"Don't talk to her like that." the techo hissed, his voice suddenly icy.  
  
"Who the hell do you think YOU are?" the girl asked, cocking her head and putting her hands on her hips. "You talk to all your customers this way, bucko? Want me to pull your job right out from under you?" Silence hung in the room for a moment as he approached her slowly, leering through his large yellow eyes.  
  
"My contract..." he said, his voice eerily calm. "....states that I find pets new homes and deal with abandoning owners. It doesn't say HOW to deal with them. Now leave your pets, if you're leaving them, and get out."  
  
"Yeah? Maybe I'll keep'em." she shot back.   
  
"All eight of them? I think not." Dr. Death snorted. "The legal limit is four."  
  
"Then keep four of them. I don't really care, you idiot." she snapped, looking down at her party and reaching out, grabbing two reds, a blue, and the green female Karma had attempted to comfort. "I'm having a talk with the employment agency, and we'll see how long you keep your job." she informed him haughtily, whirling on her heel and storming out of the pound with the four buzzes in tow. As she slammed the door, he slammed fist angrily down on the surface of the desk, making Karma jolt a little from where she still knelt on the floor, a bit dumbfounded by the entire exchange.  
  
Something nudged at her side and she turned to see a yellow buzz that had been left behind whimpering and holding out its two clawed arms hopefully. Karma wrapped her arms around the insectoid neopet and hugged it gingerly as it sobbed against her. Poor thing...she wondered when the last time was it had been loved at all. Among the other buzzes that had been left behind, another yellow stood stoically beside the desk, looking confused as to why it hadn't been chosen to go back with its owner, a red cowered nearby, blubbering to itself, and a blue, looking to be no more than a few hours old, looked vacantly around the room, trembling violently.  
  
"How could she??" Karma asked, still holding the buzz as Glitz managed to get a leash on his anger and move to collect the abandoned neopets and place them in the back. "The poor things are so upset and---"  
  
"It happens all the time." he interrupted her. "We get at least one case like this a day....senseless abandonment because the pet wasn't all the owner thought it was cracked up to be. And they ALL end like this. Hurt feelings, broken trust, and me having to sweep up the pieces."  
  
"How do you deal with it?" she asked, standing as the yellow buzz clung to her in a panicky grip.  
  
"I don't....that's where THIS came from." he told her, pointing at his mane of gray hair. "Twenty-eight and looking like I'm eighty-two, thank you very much."   
  
"What's going on out here?" Rose asked, looking concerned as she bustled out of the back and surveyed the new arrivals.  
  
"Another visit from one of Neopia's 'upstanding citizens'." he told her and then shifted his eyes to Karma who looked to be near tears as she gently tried to pry the buzz away from her as it sniffled and hiccupped against her shoulder. "Maybe you should go outside and get some air." he suggested.  
  
"N-No, I'm alright. I just still can't believe she did that." the frog said shakily.  
  
"We'll probably see her again in another couple of days to drop off the other four. People like that don't stay away long." the techo said regretfully. His expression turned sour again. "The prat didn't even fill out the forms. Do you four have names?" he asked the buzzes. The insects looked puzzledly at one another.   
  
"Mzzzz....name izzz Retardo12." the yellowbuzz Karma wasn't holding informed him. "That'zzzzz dorkus0701, the one she'zzz holding izzzz ugly_bugz, and the blue one'zzz 001imalozer."   
  
"I think you got gypped, my friend." Dr. Death informed the neopet, scribbling the names down quickly.  
  
"How sad...." RoseMadder remarked. "And you look like such a nice bunch of neopets too..." she stepped forward and picked the infant blue buzz up. "Awww....poor little one." she cooed, nuzzling it. The neopet giggled and playfully grabbed Rose's muzzle between its paws. She looked first at her co-worker and then at Karma before grinning. "Oh get out of here, you guys." she chuckled. "I can handle this." Glitz and Karma looked at one another a moment, silently discussing it with their eyes.  
  
"No, I need to get them in the records, Rose, and--"  
  
"Oh psh! I can do that myself!" she insisted. "And I'm not doing anything tonight....unlike some other people I know." she dropped a wink at the doctor upon saying so. "Now shoo! Get out of here!" she insisted, waving at the air as though he were a fly.   
  
"Alright...." he said doubtfully. "But do you think you'll need any help or---"  
  
"Nope! Go on!!" she interrupted. "Go have some fun! You can pay me back by not being late for work again tomorrow." she added.   
  
"Deal." he sighed in resignation, watching as Rose approached Karma and gently pried the buzz out of her arms. It protested a bit, but seeing that the uni was yet another kindly soul, surrendered itself and allowed Rose to take it away from the frog.   
  
"He'll be fine." Rose whispered, assuring her. "You take the doc and get on out of here." she added, giving Karma a nudge. After a moment more of cajoling and urging, the techo and frog were out the door and, after a brief stop at the bank so that Glitz could withdraw five hundred neopoints from his account, they found themselves on a bus bound for the Haunted Woods.   
  
"You sure you don't want to stop at your house so you can change?" Karma asked, sitting across from him on the bus and eyeing his labcoat. He looked down at himself quizzically.  
  
"What's wrong with my coat?" he inquired.  
  
"Nothing. You just look like you're ready to operate on someone rather than go out on a date."   
  
"Shh!" he hissed reflexively, wincing as he heard surprised murmurs from those who had heard her.   
  
"What?" she asked, looking confused.  
  
"I just....I don't want people talking about it yet, is all." he told her quietly. "We can't be out very late either...I leave Snap outside when I'm not home and the forecast said we'd get some rain tonight."  
  
"Alright...I wasn't planning on making it a late-night ordeal anyway." she shrugged.  
  
"Hello folks, if I could have your attention for just one minute, we're nearing our station in the Haunted Woods so all our travelers who are getting off there, this would be a good time to get your belongings together. I'd like to thank you for riding with us and have a good day." The bus driver's voice crackled over the intercom at the front. Karma cast a look out of the window to see the beginnings of a dark body of woods in the distance that was steadily drawing nearer and contrasted greatly with the gentle greenness of Neopia's knolls and fields.   
  
She watched, spellbound, as the bus was swallowed by the darkness of the interwoven trees and shrubs and as she stared, the vapored form of a ghost drifted past her window, leering at her through narrowed red eyes as it did so.   
  
"There's lots of those here." Glitz informed her disinterestedly, straightening himself up a bit. "All kinds of imps, actually....we'll be lucky if we don't get a visit from the pant devil. I hope you don't have anything on your person of any value." Karma reflexively patted the single pocket on the dress's right hip, finding only the slight bulge of her wallet.   
  
"No, nothing." she assured him. "What's the pant devil?"  
  
"A pain in the tail. Let's leave it at that." he shrugged, idly wishing for a cigarette but pushing it out of hand, knowing she'd complain. The bus's brakes squealed as it came to a controlled stop.   
  
"Ladies and gentlemen, all off for the Haunted Woods. Our next stop is the gaming center." the driver informed everyone as Karma and Glitz got out of their seats and filed out of the bus with scattered others. The first thing to strike Karma about the woods was the musty ancient scent of dead leaves surrounding her, and the underlying smell of smoke. Off in the distance, something cackled maniacally.   
  
"Well, you wanted to come here." Glitz informed her, watching as she looked startled by the surroundings.  
  
"Never said I didn't." she replied simply. "The ghosts here...they won't hurt you, right?"  
  
"Not much at least." he replied. "I've never heard of the spooks here killing anybody if that's what you mean." Karma felt a small shudder rack her body and wondered if coming here had been a good idea. He smirked at her apprehension. "They won't bother you much unless they think you're threatening them." She cast an uneasy look at the hundreds of pairs of glowing red eyes that peered at them from the dark of the woods. "Now where'd you want to go, Karma?" he asked.   
  
"I don't know, what is there to do?" she inquired. He thought for a moment, trying to remember everything the Haunted Woods offered since it had commercialized itself..  
  
"Games mostly. The locals here like to see how many visitors they can send running off to get them things that they need because they don't like to do it themselves. If I were you, I wouldn't let them sucker you into anything." He told her as they walked in the direction of an eerie yellow glow that illuminated a large clearing in the woods where a strange bazaar was gathered. As if one cue, something rose from the ground to their right and Karma yelped in surprise as an enormous monster that seemed to be all mouth and eyes burbled and then spoke in a booming voice.  
  
"Fooooooooood!! I am so...sooooo very hungry!!" the creature moaned. It fixed its rhuemy gaze on the both of them. "Will you feed me?" it rasped. Glitz gave Karma a light shove to keep her walking.   
  
"Sorry, we're busy." he informed the thing as they passed.   
  
"Youuuuuu will regret denying the Esophagar!!!" the monster wailed, sinking back into the muck it had risen from and disappearing.   
  
"See what I mean?" he muttered as they kept walking. "Now if you had said yes, he'd have you running yourself ragged looking for things to stuff himself with and you'd be lucky to get a thank you, let alone have him pay you back."  
  
"Umm...Glitz?" Karma asked, pointing over his shoulder. He turned his head to see two ghosts hovering over his shoulder, one clutching his wallet between its waif-like hands and giggling maniacally.  
  
"This one's got some money...." the one holding his wallet declared to the other.   
  
"Hey!!" he cried, startled and outraged all at once. "That's mine!" The other ghost cackled and moved forward, poking him with one stick-like finger. He gasped as an icy feeling coursed through his body and found himself unable to move and helpless to stop the ghost as it opened his wallet and withdrew an 80 neopoint bill.   
  
"HAHA!! Good haul, amigo!!" the ghost hooted, dropping the wallet to the ground and waving the bill triumphantly in the air. The other ghost zipped up beside its companion and the two trailed away, laughing, into the woods. The techo grunted, forcing his fingers to move and flexed his fists slowly, the immobilization magic they had used on him beginning to wear off and making him feel uncomfortably tingly. Karma, who had watched the spectacle and had been dumbfounded by what had happened, now moved forward and gently put a hand on his shoulder.  
  
"Are you okay?" she asked tentatively.  
  
"Damned....ghosts....." he said slowly, taking great pains to form each word as his jaws slowly unlocked again. "I hate it when they do that." he remarked, feeling the last of the magic wear off as he bent over and picked up his wallet, counting what was left in it. "And it just makes it worse that we're on THEIR home turf for a change."  
  
"Sorry...." Karma muttered, looking down. "I didn't know this place was such a hassle. Why don't we get out of here?"  
  
"No." he sighed, stuffing the wallet back into his pocket. "We don't have to. There's still things we could do here if you want."  
  
"Yeah but we've not even been here five minutes and already something bad's happened." she pushed. "I don't want this to be one of those nights we look back on and groan about." He was about to answer her when he was interrupted by a slightly gruff, but friendly voice.  
  
"Hello..." it said. They turned to see an impossibly large mushroom towering over them, its crown wobbling a bit as it spoke. "Can I interest you two in a green healthshroom today? Or maybe you'd like something a bit more exotic. I have some very nice bloatershrooms...." The giant mushroom looked from Karma to Glitz hopefully.   
  
"I've never been especially big on mushrooms." the yellow techo told the living fungus. It seemed to wrinkle in on itself, as though wounded by the poundkeeper's words.  
  
"I see....well, perhaps your lady-friend then...?" he asked.  
  
"Actually, yeah." Karma agreed. Glitz fought not to slap his forehead in frustration as the mushroom lit up instantly. "What?" she asked the techo. "I just want to get a couple of healthshrooms just in case something happens to Yahoo or Chomby someday." Glitz grumbled obscenities irately as he trailed behind Karma and the giant mushroom as it led them to its neopia-reknowned Apothecary, already knowing that the shopkeeper was going to attempt to take both of them to the cleaners if he could.  
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~  
  
Little more than an hour had passed and, after finally tearing themselves away from the pushyness of the shopkeepers, Karma and Dr. Death were again on their own.  
  
"That's a lot more than I wanted to spend." he grumbled, examining the bag that held several mushrooms the Apothecary-keeper had coerced him into buying. "What am I supposed to do with these?"  
  
"I dunno...keep'em under your desk and throw them at random people who walk in?" she suggested.  
  
"You're not helping." he sighed.  
  
"Sorry." she chuckled, putting a hand on his shoulder as they walked. Something in the bushes cackled at them and made obnoxiously loud smooching sounds through slimy-sounding lips. "Oh, get bent." she said to it. It laughed loudly again and sounded as though it were scampering away. "Where're we going?" she asked.  
  
"I don't know." he shrugged. "I just need to get away from the people for a minute. I don't like being harrassed, it makes me nervous. That and I'd like to walk out of here with at least half of what I came in here with in my funds." She nodded in understanding as they wove their way through the clustered trees and bushes, coming shortly upon a small clearing. "Good enough." he remarked, moving forward and sitting at the base of a spindly pine tree. Karma remained standing, looking over her shoulder worriedly. What if they got lost out here? It was already pushing past evening and into the night. No, that was ridiculous. From the clearing, the lights and voices of the churning bazaar were still clearly visible. They were only fifty feet or so from the beaten path, after all, so getting lost would take a lot of doing on their part.  
  
She moved to sit beside him, slipping a bit on the loose carpet of pine needles, but managed to make it to the ground without falling as she situated her skirt a bit. It felt good to sit down, and admittantly, it was a relief to be away from the constant clamour.   
  
"So what did you end up buying?" he asked her. She opened the paper sack containing her mushrooms and fumbled in it a moment.  
  
"Two green healthshrooms, a blue and...umm..." she blushed and took something out. Glitz squinted to see it in the darkness. It looked to be a gnarled purple toadstool of some sort.  
  
"What's what supposed to be?" he asked.  
  
"I dunno. The shopkeeper said it was something magical." she shrugged. "A gnome shroom, I think."  
  
"The one that's supposed to turn into a gnome at a certain time of the day?" he groaned. "Karma, that's an old wive's tale."  
  
"Hey, do I look like an old wife to you??" she asked. He paused for a moment, biting his lip against a smile. Realizing that she had just trapped herself, the frog swatted his leg playfully. "And you'd better think long and hard before answering that, pal." she added as he snickered.   
  
"No, not a wife...maybe a mistress. Or maybe a concubine." he told her, smirking as he said it.  
  
"Oh gee thanks." she muttered, hoping he was teasing. She felt his hand alight on her wrist and pat it gently, removing her annoyance at him almost instantly as she leaned backward, resting her head on his shoulder.   
  
"You know we're going to catch hell if someone sees this." he told her.  
  
"I know." she replied simply, snuggling closer. He hesitated and then put an arm around her shoulders, half-holding her. "This is nice." she purred. "How come we haven't done this more?"  
  
"Besides the fact we've only been close for three days?" he asked. "It might have had something to do with all the time we spent at each other's necks."  
  
"That might have done it." she agreed, brushing her snout against his throat softly. He felt a tremor of warmth pass through his chest, but, as he brought himself to look down into her orange-hazed eyes, he still didn't feel anything strong for her. The wanting was there, but the love didn't seem to be following. It was maddening in the way that it taunted him and....well, probably time that he came clean with her about it.  
  
"Karma, I need to level with you, I think..." he began, trailing off as her hair brushed softly against his jaw.   
  
"Mm hmm?" she asked.  
  
"I know you're enjoying this...to a certain degree, I am too----stop that." he muttered, shivering as she nuzzled the nape of his neck. "But I think that---"  
  
"OW!!" she jolted straight up, her hand flying to her left shoulder.  
  
"What's wrong?" he asked, alarmed by her outburst.  
  
"Something stung me." she said, suddenly feeling inexplicably sleepy. It felt as though someone had affixed a lead weight to every part of her body as her fingers explored whatever had hurt her shoulder. It was long and sleek with a surface that felt like glass. "Owww..." she moaned, whimpering as her world began to spin out of control and a red haze prickled at her vision. Glitz watched, puzzled, as she reeled drunkenly onto her side, something green protruding from her skin. He reached out, gingerly plucking it from where it sprouted from her flesh and examined it.   
  
He had no sooner recognized it as a medical syringe than a sharp pain blossomed directly beneath his jaw, making him cry out. A burning sensation instantly coursed through his body and he found it hard to keep his head up. The pine needles that made up the floor of the woods suddenly looked uncommonly comfortable as his eyelids drooped. He was dimly aware of a faint thud as his body struck the ground and then everything faded into blackness.  
  
From the bushes, there was a rustling and then two forms emerged....one large and hulking, and the other sleek and refined, clad in a trailing black cape.   
  
"Hrmm...that was uncommonly easy." the eerily smooth yet gravelly voice of Dr. Frank Sloth remarked as he surveyed the downed bodies of Glitz and Karma. At his side, a large mutant grundo flexed its bulging muscles and grinned.  
  
"For me's to squeeze!" he declared, opening his meaty palms and reaching for the unconscious bodies' necks. Sloth turned, casually withdrawing what looked to be a rod from an inner pocket in his cloak and prodded the grundo's upper arm with it. It crackled and emitted a few sparks, making the grundo howl in pain and goggle down at his master.  
  
"Now then, it wouldn't do us much good if they were both broken, would it, Meat?" he asked the large monster. It pouted its massive green lip out and looked abashedly at the ground. "I didn't think so. Now pick them up GENTLY." Meat grumped, but complied, wrapping his hands around the techo and frog's torsos and lifting them carefully. "Very good. Maybe there IS a brain floating somewhere in that vacuuous skull of yours." Dr. Sloth commended sarcastically. "Now follow." he ordered, carefully withdrawing a pendant from where it had been hidden around his neck and softly chanting an incantation. The wind around them howled as a swirling green porthole opened itself before them.   
  
Briskly, the doctor and his slave, carrying the unconscious Glitz and Karma, stepped into it. As quickly as it had appeared, the porthole was gone again, leaving nothing behind to tell of its presense except for a few stray tumbling leaves. Off in the distance a cricket hesitantly chirped in the sudden silence....its call was greeted by another and soon the woods carried on its happenings as though nothing had happened at all.  
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~  
  
"I'm getting sick of this..." Rose remarked to no one as she sat alone, behind the desk the next morning. She had been more than leniant on Dr. Death the past two weeks and excused his tardiness and absense more than she should have had to. It was nearly time to open and she hadn't seen hide nor hair of him yet. Her attempts to call his house had been left unanswered and she had left several irate messages on his machine.   
  
She liked to think of herself as the understanding sort and had even hoped that he and Karma might do well on their outing together, but it was passing the point of ridiculousness when he was leaving her with all the work, all the time. Yesterday had been Lenny day....and, inevitably, what that meant was that there would be a huge influx of Lenny abandonments today from all of the bandwagon-hoppers that had rushed to the stockhouse to adopt one to be a part of the trend and now had no use for the neopet.  
  
Outside, she could already see a few people waiting, all of them with a pet in tow that could be nothing other than an incoming adoptee.. The pink uni made a silent vow that if his excuse wasn't better than he and Karma had been off rutting somewhere and had lost track of the time, she'd personally tie his tail in a knot the next time she saw him. Casting another rueful glance at the clock, she sighed deeply. Time to open for business.   
  
She crossed the room, unlocking the door and stepping back as those who had been waiting began to file in and form a line at Dr. Death's side of the desk and begin their noises of impatientness as they noticed his absense.   
  
"If you'll all hang on a moment, I'll be with you shortly." Rose informed them all as they looked at one another in a confused manner. Some of them drifted over to the provided chairs nearby to wait while others remained rigidly at the desk, refusing to give up their place in line as Rose picked up the telephone, determined she would have SOME sort of revenge for being left alone as she dialed up the employment agency. Someone picked up on the end of the third ring and a musical faerie's voice was heard.   
  
"Thank you for calling the employment agency, this is Atrina. How may I help you?"  
  
"Hello, this is RoseMadder calling from the Neopian Pound." the uni began.  
  
"Oh hello, dear. What can I do for you today?" the faerie inquired sweetly.  
  
"Its about my co-worker. He's a no-call, no-show this morning, and I'm up to my ears in work." As she spoke this, a couple of the abandoners looked at one another and got up and shuffled quietly back out the door, their lennies safe from the pound for the moment.   
  
"Dr. Death? That's strange....isn't he usually religious about his schedule?" Atrina asked.  
  
"I don't know..." Rose sighed, exasperated. "He's undergone a few changes in his life as of late, and I can excuse it only so far. I've been calling him all morning and he hasn't answered. I'm just tired of this."  
  
"That's understandable. Tell you what, we'll send a scout over to his house to see what's wrong with him and if we can't turn him up at home, we'll send you a temp to help with things until we find out what's going on."  
  
"Thank you." the uni sighed in relief.   
  
"Just hang in there." Atrina told her, and then hung up. Rose laid the phone back in its cradle before turning to tend to the people still waiting.   
  
"I can take whoever's next." she called. The abandoners all eyed one another and started for the desk at the same time, pausing to glare at each other and argue over who had been first. Rose groaned and laid her head between her hooves on the desk. Already she could tell this was going to shape up to be one of those days she'd spend the weekend trying to forget.  
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~  
  
The portal tore through the stoic silence of the inner laboratory as it opened wide, allowing Dr. Frank Sloth and Meat entry. Personally, he didn't care for portal travel very much, but it was an easy and convenient way to get around without being noticed. The time lapse was something he could never get used to. Though he had spent only seconds within the portal, when he emerged, sometimes as much as a week had passed in the world around him. A stout purple grundo looked up from the microscope it had been squinting into.  
  
"Ah! Back already, sir? You were only gone the night this time." the grundo scientist simpered. Dr. Sloth strode past disinterestedly, not sparing the scientist a second look as Meat thundered behind him, still carrying the two limp bodies. As they meandered down the hallway, the doctor was startled by a loud crash and paused in his gait as a mutant kacheek scuttled out of a doorway, being tailed closely by flying coffee mugs and silverware.  
  
"HEADS UP, DUDE!!! ESTROGEN-FEST IN THE BREAKROOM!!!!" the malformed neopet yowled, narrowly dodging a fork as it wisked past his head and imbedded itself in the wall directly above his exposed and pulsating brain.   
  
"You little son of a bitch!! Get back here and take it like a man!!" a female's voice commanded from inside the room the kacheek had run from. Sloth heaved a sigh and shook his head.   
  
"Meat, wait here." he ordered in an exasperated voice. The grundo obediently froze, apparently having no intention of venturing into the eye of whatever storm was raging in that room as the doctor impatiently bustled inside. Perched at the sink of the break room, clad in a white labcoat that had a large purple stain on the front and ready to hurl what was left in a glass artificial creamer jar at whoever walked in next was an olive-skinned young lady, the angry blush in her cheeks almost identically matching her fiery red hair that framed her face in haphazard commas and strings.  
  
Sloth reflexively ducked nanoseconds before the glass jar flew over his head and shattered against the wall behind him in a cloud of shards and white powder. At the same time, the girl gave a startled gasp upon recognizing him and seemed to forget her anger for the moment as he straightened himself up and favored her with a high-seated look.  
  
"Temper, temper, Ms. Pendragon." he scolded, turning to close the door.  
  
"Oh...Doctor..." she breathed, reaching up reflexively to smooth her hair back. "I'm sorry I thought you were--" he raised a hand for silence and crossed the room, standing directly across from her.  
  
"Pray, tell me what happened...." he asked, extending one finger to clear a stray lock of hair from her cheek. The girl, Wizlow Pendragon, momentarily lost her train of thought at his touch.  
  
"It was..." she began, waiting until he dropped his hand again to finish. "It was that damned little dustball, Squick." she informed him. "He shook up all of the sodas and LOOK at this!" she spat, pointing at the bust of her labcat where the purple stain had set.   
  
"What does it matter to you anyway, is my question." Dr. Sloth said. "Unless you work in the laboratory, the coat isn't necessary."  
  
"I was in the lab earlier." she said defensively. "And with all those scummonkeys you've got working here, I didn't want to take chances on having my actual clothes ruined. This is my only labcoat and now its trash." He nodded in understanding and then rested a hand on either of her slender shoulders.  
  
"Wizlow, go get changed." he told her gently. "Screaming and yelling like an inbred kyrii is very unbecoming to you." She opened her mouth to protest but felt her words die on her lips as he gave her shoulders a squeeze. "Aside from myself, you're the last representative of our race. Let's act like it, hmm?" She nodded in resignation.  
  
"Good girl." he smiled, turning to leave.  
  
"Hey!" she called after him, making him pause and look over his shoulder at her, his red eyes inquisitive. "Are you doing anything later?" she asked, smirking. Sloth shook his head and chortled.  
  
"You're incorrigible." he told her in mock-exasperaton. And then added "We'll see." as he opened the door and returned to the matter at hand in the hallway. Meat still stood, patient as an ox, Karma and Dr. Death over each shoulder. "To the observation cell." he informed the grundo. "Let's get these two logged and put away." Meat nodded stiffly and followed as the mad doctor continued down the hallway and rounded a corner where there was a single door, vaporlocked and guarded by an alarmed keypad.   
  
Sloth deftly keyed in the access code and waited as the security system processed it.  
  
"Access granted." a computerized voice droned as, with a hiss, the door opened to reveal a sterile white room. A wild-eyed scorchio looked up from where it was busily puttering around a table, alternately scribbling on a notepad and checking on several flasks of bubbling liquid.  
  
"Ah, velcome Doktor! Velcome!" the scorchio greeted him in a heavily accented voice. "Zee expedition, it vuz a zuccess, I presume?" Dr. Sloth grunted in reply, walking past the scorchio and approaching a large enclosure in the corner of the room that was outfitted to hold specimens under observation. It had last held a group of rambunctious kacheek children that he had wanted to try his transmogrification potions out on. Now it would house his latest two subjects.   
  
He slid open the door and stood aside as Meat hefted the two limp bodies inside, preparing to toss them into opposite corners of the enclosure, looking first over his shoulder to see if Sloth was watching. Seeing the disapproving glare from the doctor, the grundo cringed and forced himself to lay them down instead of throwing them as he had planned.  
  
"Dismissed, Meat." Sloth informed his lackey, watching as the hulking monster lumbered out of the room as he closed the door to the enclosure, looking at the dormant bodies of Karma and Dr. Death through the vented plexiglass of their new quarters.   
  
"Fine zpezimens you haff chozen, Doktar." the scorchio commended, scuttling up beside Sloth and peering inside as well. "But vhy zese two?"   
  
"The majority of the creatures in Neopia are still children." he explained. "And all of the adults are either unobtainable or would be missed too much. This male, from what I have seen, is a rather unliked poundkeeper." a twisted smile curled his lips. "Who knows? I may be doing everyone a service by taking him off their hands for awhile."  
  
"Ahh very goot. Very goot." the scorchio chuckled. "And ze female?"   
  
"I've not seen her around much." Sloth admitted. "But two adult techos would give more accurate testing results than only one. Especially in case something goes....awry." The scorchio burst into peals of disturbing laughter at Sloth's comment. The doctor whisked his hand backward, colliding it with the scorchio's nose in a stinging blow and silencing his laughter. "Its not a laughing matter, professor." he informed his worker icily. "No neopet has been destroyed by the lab ray yet, but if one ever is we'll have a very messy situation on our hands. Do you understand me?" The scorchio rubbed at his snout and nodded, not without a hint of resentment.  
  
"Zere iz zomethink odd about her, zo." the professor remarked, peering at Karma's form through the glass intently. "I haff never zeen a techo mit such an odd tail." he added, looking at the frog's stubby tadpole's tail.  
  
"My guess is there was some crossbreeding somewhere in her lines." Sloth shrugged. "Its not an issue unless I say so, professor."  
  
"Aff courze, doktar. I am not queztioning you." the scorchio replied. "But I vonder....might I haff permission to obzerve her a bit?" Sloth narrowed his eyes at his worker.  
  
"If observing is all you plan on doing, fine." he told the scorchio curtly. "None of your damned experiments." The professor looked slightly hurt but quickly straightened up again.  
  
"Az you vish, Doktar Zloth." he smiled with a salute. The doctor watched them both a moment more before turning to leave.  
  
"I want to be notified when they awaken." he called over his shoulder.  
  
"Uff courze!" the scorchio called back. "You zhall be ze first!" As the door closed with a hiss, the scorchio turned back to the holding pen, opening the lock. "Affter I have done a few examinationz, zat is...." he added quietly as he stepped through the door, hefting Karma, with some difficulty, into his arms. She wasn't as light as he had thought her to be. "You are a ztrange one." he said, grinning. "Let'z zee juzt how ztrange you are...." He added, half-carrying, half-dragging her toward the testing facility.  
  
  
TBC............. 


	10. Life In Captivity

Dark. Everything was so dark as pinpricks of consciousness began to riddle Glitz's mind. The first thing he was aware of was that he hurt all over and that his head was pounding....typically, the way he felt when he woke up after he had been heavily drinking the night before. But had he been? He couldn't remember. In fact, everything was a blur to him. As his brain continued to wake up from the uneventful sleep it had taken, he summoned the strength to clumsily turn himself over, lulling bonelessly onto his back with a grunt.  
  
Beneath him there was a faint crunching sound and, as he breathed, the faint scent of pine laced his nostrils. Things started to slowly creep back....and the last thing he remembered was that he and Karma had gone to the Haunted Woods and had gone off of the path to sit for moment. But then what? His eyes slowly opened, revealing a crazy circus of blurryness that made no sense. He wondered briefly if he was still in the woods...but how he could possibly have fallen asleep THERE of all places escaped him.  
  
Things swam and slowly came into focus around him until he found himself staring vacantly at a sterile white ceiling. Somewhere nearby, the droning motor of a refridgerator made a grinding sound as it came on, filling wherever he was with a gentle hum. He groaned and tried to gather his elbows beneath him to sit up, failing the first time but catching himself the second time as he drunkenly pulled himself into a reclined sit.   
  
As best as he could gather, he was lying on the ground of some sort of enclosure. Around him were large transparent walls and he found that the crunching noise was due to the fact that he was sprawled on a thick layer of wood shavings that had been scattered on the floor. Through the walls he could see several tables that stood in the middle of the room, lined with scattered beakers, centrifuges, and microscopes.  
  
He wearily drew himself into a kneel and then stood on legs that had little strength as the distant aching in his head became more prominent. In the enclosure, there were several blankets and pillows clumped together on the floor in the far right corner as a makeshift bed and a water faucet over a small metal basin. along the left side. Other than that, the enclosure was fairly barren.   
  
"Hello...?" he tried to call, his voice coming in a stale croak. He swallowed and tried again. "Hello??" No answer. Was this someone's idea of a joke, he wondered as he began to pace the perimeter of his confines. If he knew Neopia like he thought he did, he wouldn't put it past someone who had issues with him to set up an elaborate prank like this. Maybe it was some fanatic who was using this as a half-cocked attempt to show him what the animals in the pound felt like. If it was, he didn't know if he'd be able to restrain from hurting someone once his head cleared. "Hey, whoever's out there, joke's over." he grumbled, hitting the heel of one hand against the plexiglass. It rattled a bit but nothing more. "HEY!" he barked, knocking again with both hands this time.   
  
A high-pitched alarm squealed from a small box affixed to the outside of the wall, accompanied shortly by a distant clattering and frantic muttering. As he watched, a door swung open and a yellow scorchio with impossibly large eyes hurried in, skidding to a stop and goggling at him.   
  
"You fool! Youve zet off ze alarm!!" he squawked, virtually LEAPING toward the enclosure and fumbling with the buttons wildly. "Oh no oh no oh no...." he chanted to himself, trying again and again. "Zees is not goot. Not goot at all!" After a moment of not being able to silence the alarm, he turned and loped hurriedly out of the room, disappearing through the doorway he had come through for a moment and then returning, dragging something with him. Glitz squinted, trying to make it out. He was still a bit groggy and it took him a moment to recognize that the scorchio was scuttling back with Karma in tow.   
  
Her head lulled limply to the side and she looked to be very soundly asleep. His hopes that this had been a prank began to shrivel and be replaced with confusion and terror. What the hell was going on? As the scorchio approached, he withdrew a small apparatus from his pocket, clutching it in one hand as he dragged her with the other.   
  
"You've cauzed enuff trouble, yes?" the scorchio asked him indirectly. "Zloth will be here any moment becauze of you and my experimentz haff been cut short! Now back away from ze door and zere will be no trouble." he gave the air a jab with the device he held, making it emit a few sparks. Knowing he was too out-of-it to challenge the scorchio even if he had wanted to, Glitz obediently stepped backward. A tazer being jabbed into his chest didn't sound like it would help his headache much, after all. The scorchio keyed in the access code to the cage, a bit more successfully than his attempt to key in the code to silence the alarm and drew open the door, dragging Karma inside behind him.   
  
When she was safely laying on the wood chips, he hurried out again, slamming the door shut and racing to a nearby table to pretend to be busy with something else even as approaching footsteps from outside drew nearer and the labroatory door suddenly exploded open, revealing a flustered Dr. Sloth.  
  
"Ahh, Doktar! I vuz just about to call you and---" the alien scientist ignored the scorchio, storming across the room to quickly punch in a sequence that would silence the blaring alarm. After a short pause, everything fell almost disturbingly quiet as the evil doctor turned to the professor, his fists clenching and unclenching.rhythmically.  
  
"I believe we went over this, Professor." he growled. "Didn't I expressly SAY to contact me as soon as they had awakened??"  
  
"Yez....yez you did, Doktar...!" the scorchio agreed hurriedly. "But I didn't want to dizturb you, zir....and only one haz avakened after all!" he added hurriedly, cowering as Sloth advanced on him, seizing a beaker and throwing it to the floor scant inches in front of the scorchio's feet.   
  
"I honestly don't know why I keep you." he sneered. "I have important matters that need attending and I can't drop what I'm doing every time one of you goddamned idiots sets off an alarm." he sighed, looking at the scattering of glass shards on the floor and then back at his assistant. "Clean that up." he ordered. The professor quickly dropped to his knees and began gathering the glass up with his paws as Sloth turned his attention to the enclosure.   
  
The techo, frankly, didn't know what to make of his current situation. He had heard of Dr. Frank Sloth on many occasions. He was a household name in Neopia, really, and was talked of badly by almost everyone. But he had never actually seen the man for himself...and now, as he found himself almost face-to-face with the mad doctor, he was spellbound.  
  
"Well...awake, I see." Sloth smirked. "Confused?" Glitz found he could give no reply and simply continued to stare. "Hrmmm....apparently techos get less intelligent as well as uglier when they get older." he quipped, chuckling at his own joke. The frosty-maned techo gave him no reaction and remained frozen. Dr. Sloth narrowed his eyes a bit. "No doubt you wonder why you're here." he said, leisurely pacing in front of the plexiglass enclosure.  
  
"H---How did you---" he began, tentatively finding his voice again.  
  
"Capture you?" Sloth interrupted. "Mild tranquilizers." he informed him matter-of-factly. "Though I suppose I ought to adjust their potency." he chuckled. "You've been out, as far as I know, for the better part of two days. Strange....the darts, on average, only render our other subjects unconscious for a few hours." A smile curled his lips. "It seems I have much to learn about your adult forms....but no matter. There is plenty of time for that. I'm sure you and your mate will prove to be more than adequate subjects."   
  
Dr. Death felt a hot flush rise in his cheeks upon Karma being referred to as his "mate", but said nothing on the subject. His love life wasn't the issue here.   
  
"Why us?" he asked, his anger beginning to seep out from where it had been hiding and make itself evident. "There must be millions of neopets and you had to take us?? Karma's not even a---"   
  
"You DO realize, of course, that even if I had taken one of them, they'd be saying the exact same thing right now." Sloth smirked and then raised his voice to a mockingly high pitch "Why me, why me?? Its not fair!!" he squealed and then burst into peals of laughter. The techo leered at the doctor, his awe at being nearly nose-to-nose with the Evil Dr. Frank Sloth evaporating as quickly as it had overtaken him. "Pleasantries aside, whether you'd like to or not, you are taking part in a study I'm performing." Sloth continued. "Cooperating and surviving should be your two main concerns at the moment....they're what will earn you your freedom when I've learned all I need to."  
  
"And what if I say no?" Glitz asked, trembling in outrage. Sloth scrutinized the techo disinterestedly through the plexiglass wall.   
  
"Well, that would make things difficult, wouldn't it?" the doctor said cryptically. "I'll inform you...." he trailed off. "Dear me, I've not gotten your name, have I?" There was a pregnant pause between the two of them. "Well, it doesn't really matter." Sloth shrugged. "I'll inform you that we don't destroy pets here. Any pet that has died has done it of their own accord."  
  
"Their own accord." Glitz repeated icily.   
  
"Again, not here." Sloth interrupted. "They don't die here and never will. Too many questions would be asked and I'd have Neopia's law forces, such as they are, crawling all over me in no time. But we DO have some cases...." he trailed off, waiting for the techo to ask him to continue. When Glitz didn't humor him, he continued on his own. "We have some cases where pets that have been in our care have....well...they've been unable to handle themselves after all that's been done to them. Silly beasts."   
  
"So you're saying they've committed suicide after you've mutated them and let them go, then. Is that what you're telling me?" Glitz felt his molars grind together in anger as he said this.   
  
"You said it, not me. All that matters is that its not happened while they've been here." Sloth smirked. "You see, while Neopia's laws say that I can't kill or maim you, they say nothing about testing and detaining. Aren't loopholes grand? Though it would seem that sometimes one doesn't need to kill pets to get a bad reputation." His smirk drew itself into a large toothy grin as he noted the fire in Dr. Death's eyes. "Did I strike a nerve, son?" he inquired.   
  
"Shut up." the techo hissed.   
  
"My people and I have been watching you for the past couple of days." the doctor continued. "You work in the pound, my sources say." he stepped closer to the glass until the tip of his pointy nose brushed against it. "Not very well-liked either. You see, that was the crucial factor, really. We couldn't very well make off with an upstanding Neopian citizen and have their absense be noticed in minutes. I highly doubt you'll be missed much during your 'visit' with us. Or even if you never came back at all...."  
  
"SHUT UP!!" he snapped, his voice sounding dry and brittle in the silence of the laboratory. Behind him he heard a muffled mewl and a dry scratching and he turned his attention away from Sloth, watching as Karma slowly began to come awake, her eyelids fluttering.  
  
"Ahh, she joins us." Sloth remarked, watching as the tree frog roused herself. Glitz abandoned his "chat" with the doctor to kneel beside her and help her up.   
  
"Glitz......?" she asked woozily. "Where...."  
  
"Not somewhere good." he told her. "Don't panic."   
  
"Panic?" she groaned, squinting in the light. "About what?"  
  
"Professor..." Sloth ordered, never taking his eyes off of the caged duo. There was a musical tinkling as the scorchio dropped the handful of shards he had been picking up and raced to the doctor's side.  
  
"Yez zir?" he inquired, wringing his hands.  
  
"Prepare the ray and one of our subjects. I'll return shortly." he informed the neopet as he left the laboratory in a whisper of his black robe. When he was gone, the scorchio turned to the two captives and assumed a thoughtful look as it looked first at Glitz and then at Karma.   
  
"You." he said flatly, pointing at the techo as he retrieved the same device he had threatened Glitz with earlier when he had returned Karma to the enclosure from his pocket. "Come along now." he said authoritatively, reaching for the access keypad. "Don't make zis harder zan it haz to be...." He kept one bulbous eye on Glitz for any sign of uprising. The yellow techo, however, had moodily resigned himself for the moment. What was the point in trying to make an escape when Sloth likely had hundreds of guards? Plus, he doubted it would help the situation much if he WAS caught....especially since Sloth had inadvertantly agreed to let them go if they both cooperated.  
  
"What's going on...?" Karma asked, coming a bit more awake and clinging to the rumpled lapels of Dr. Death's labcoat. "Who's that guy?" she asked, starting to sound afraid. He noticed for the first time that the ends of her hair were singed and that she smelled faintly of smoke. What had the scorchio been doing to her before bringing her back in such a hurry, he wondered? The professor entered the confine and lightly touched the tazer to the back of Glitz's neck, making him jolt and cry out.   
  
"Come now." the scorchio ordered. "Let'z move!" Glitz favored the pushy neopet with a glare and then turned back to Karma.  
  
"I'll be back soon, I guess..." he muttered, taking her hands in his own and gently unhooking them from his labcoat.   
  
"Where're you going?" Karma asked, eyes wide and shining. He didn't answer as he got to his feet and the scorchio gave him a shove, making him stumble a bit. "Where are you taking him???" she demanded of the bug-eyed professor. When he, too, refused to answer, she struggled to stand, falling once and landing falsely on her left wrist, whimpering as it twisted a bit.   
  
Just as she managed to stumble to her feet and lurch forward a few steps, the door to the enclosure swung shut and the electric lock's latch clicked into place, trapping her, as she uselessly pounded a fist against the transparent wall. As she watched, the scorchio took a strap out of another coat pocket and made a loose loop out of it, tossing it neatly over the techo's head and pulling it snug around his throat.   
  
"That's not necessary, damn you." she heard him say indignantly. "I'm not a---hurk!!" he was cut off as the scorchio yanked the strap tight with a sharp jerk of his arm. He reached up, attempting to hook his thumbs under the strap to loosen it to no avail. After a moment, the scorchio let up on the tension on the strap and allowed him to breathe again.   
  
"Ze first thing you vill learn iz not to talk back, yez?" the professor said mildly. "Ve don't much care for inzubordinatez." he gave the makeshift noose a short tug and began walking, the humiliated techo in tow as he led him into the experimentation quarters. Karma watched helplessly, tears streaming down her face as they disappeared behind the door and it closed slowly behind them. She trembled heavily in mingled misery and terror as she was left alone in the meager light and stood quietly for a few moments to see if they would return. When there was no sign of anyone, she retreated away from the side of the enclosure and approached what served as the bed, taking up one of the pillows and hugging it tightly against her chest as she sank into a huddling position in the corner, crying softly.  
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~  
  
Rose was never one to complain when things didn't go her way, but this was getting to be a little much as she sat at the edge of the desk, trying to breathe shallowly so that she wouldn't have to smell the creature beside her. The temp that the faerie agency had sent was a monstrous human woman both in temper and in size that called herself simply, Ms. Whorley. No first name, accent on the "ley", she had told Rose. At first, Rose had done her best to be polite, but found that Ms. Whorley grated on her nerves horribly. Before long, she found herself wondering simply how long it had been since the woman had last taken a bath.  
  
As the afternoon had worn on, Rose learned that the woman had, long ago, run the pound on her own before turning her position over to Dr. Death when she had lost interest in it. Speaking of the doctor, the scout they had sent to his house had turned up only a rather irate and hungry doglefox in the backyard, but no sign of the techo himself. Having an idea, Rose had looked up Karma's number in the pound records and tried her place, wondering if he had spent the night there. Instead, she had gotten Karma's cybunny who had informed her that the last he had seen of her was when she had gotten dressed and left to meet Dr. Death at the pound. Confused, she had decided to leave things where they were for now and worry about it further after her shift was over.  
  
"You got a vending machine around here, horsie?" Whorley grunted. Rose shook her head, afraid to inhale to speak, lest she fill her lungs with the woman's pungeant body odor. If nothing else, it seemed to have kept most of the abandoners away for the day. "RASVAR!!!" she squawked, making the pink uni cringe. A very tired-looking green blumaroo poked its head out from around the corner of the desk, looking up at its owner. The luster had long gone out of its black eyes and it appeared to be much older than it really was. Ms. Whorley leaned to one side, fishing into her pocket with meaty fingers and withdrawing a handful of neopoints. "Go get me some nachos and a neocola." she commanded the neopet. "Step on it!"   
  
"Right away, mum." Rasvar replied quietly as it bounced out of the pound on the tip of its tail. Rose watched him exit into the bright neopian afternoon and found herself envious of the bedraggled creature as she rested her head on her hooves, looking wistfully at the clock. The first thing she would do, she decided, was take a long bubble bath to relax....and after that, she'd take a walk over to Dr. Death's and fish Snap out of his backyard, take him back to her place and at least give the poor doglefox a meal.  
  
She wondered for the umpteenth time just where he had gotten to....he and Karma just couldn't have up and disappeared. She ran through her mental checklist of options again, crossing them off one by one as they had been ruled out. Her first assumption, that they had gotten too friendly with one another and spent the night together seemed to have fallen through. Maybe they had gotten lost...the land in the Haunted Woods, after all, was very uncertain and the trees seemed to have a bad habit of changing position. But then again, she knew the doctor better than to go wandering off half-cocked with no map.   
  
Her puzzling was cut short as Rasvar returned, a neocola and a bag of nachos in his arms and balancing a rainbow doughnut between his ears. Ms. Whorley perked up instantly and held out her hands to accept the food as the neopet delivered it. Rose winced in disgust as the bag was torn open and the temporary poundkeeper began to loudly crunch on the corn chips inside.   
  
She heard the door open again and looked up eagerly, while not particularly eager for another incoming adoptee, hoping for a temporary distraction from her new co-worker. As she watched, a blue cybunny and blue chomby both lumbered inside.  
  
"Hey anybody seen a frog around here?" Yahoo called out impatiently as he and Chomby approached Rose's corner of the desk. "Ya know, brown hair, yellow, likes to hang around grouchy guys with bottlebrush hair...."  
  
"Karma's not turned up, I'm afraid." Rose informed him regretfully. The two neopets looked disappointed.  
  
"I don't understand....why'd she just disappear?" Chomby asked worriedly. "Do you think she doesn't like us anymore, Yahoo?" he gasped. "I don't wanna go back to being in a cage...."  
  
"I bet you dubloons to omelettes that she followed him home last night." the cybunny grinned mischeviously, nudging the chomby in the ribs.   
  
"No she didn't." Rose chimed in. "Nobody's at the doctor's house either."   
  
"Then where the heck did she get to??" Yahoo demanded to know, crossing his paws over his chest. "Hmph....she could have left a note or something."  
  
"I'm hungry." Chomby complained as his stomach rumbled. "We haven't eaten all day and she hasn't been home to make us breakfast."   
  
"And.....WHAT....is that?" Yahoo asked, pointing at Ms. Whorley as she continued to feed, taking no notice of the two.  
  
"That's the temp..." Rose sighed.  
  
"Geez, and people thought Dr. Death was scary??" the cybunny asked, his brows shooting upward in surprise.  
  
"I'm starting to think this is serious, you two." the uni informed them. "But I wouldn't get all riled about it yet. For now, I think its important that you take care of one another until we find out where the two of them went. Do you think you can do that?"  
  
"Not a problem." Yahoo shrugged. "I was basically taking care of myself before Ashley got rid of me anyway."  
  
"Well, I highly doubt Karma 'got rid of' either of you, so let's not jump to conclusions." Rose assured him. "In the meantime, I have work to do. My shift isn't quite over yet and I don't want to be caught sitting around." the cybunny and chomby exchanged a look and then turned and left without a word. Rose winced as Whorley belched wetly beside her and looked at the clock again. Five more minutes....just five.  
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~  
  
Sloth sat idly at the control panel, waiting patiently as three mutant kacheeks and a mutant chia scuttled busily about the laser platform, affixing restraints to Glitz's ankles and wrists. His tail nervously twitched back and forth along the backs of his legs as they did so. They had stripped him of his labcoat and charcoal-colored shirt, at least being respectful enough to leave him his black slacks...thank lord for small favors. He looked distastefully at his shackles.  
  
"They're just a precaution." the mad doctor chuckled, noticing the techo's look of utter exasperation.  
  
"So I don't fall down and hit my head while you're frying my guts...how generous." the techo growled as the last restraint was pulled tight. He tried them experimentally and found that he was held quite helpless against the metal slab the laser was aimed at. Sloth grinned, his fangs glinting in the flourescent light of the laboratory.  
  
"All set, daddy-o!" the mutant chia burbled, hopping down from the platform and leaving a residue of brown as it went. The two mutated kacheeks followed after their brother as they all waddled out of harm's way.   
  
"Good. Goggles on, everyone....or off, I really don't care." he told the rest of the laboratory as he took up a pair of black goggles from the console and affixed them over his eyes.   
  
"That's in case I explode, right?" Dr. Death inquired nastily.   
  
"Such a pessimist. Honestly." Sloth said, feigning hurt.  
  
"Ready when you are, Doctor." Wizlow informed him from where she stood nearby, no longer in her soiled labcoat but clad, instead, in a dark trenchcoat reminiscent of Sloth's black cape and robe. She wasn't attempting to mimic the doctor, but like him, she enjoyed dressing in dark colors. In her hands she held a clipboard and a pen, ready to take notes on the results. Sloth poised a finger over the button that would fire the ray, fixing his eyes on the techo.  
  
With no warning given, he quickly pressed the button, immediately bringing the mechanics of the massive ray gun to life with a high-pitched humming for a split second before it emitted a blast of powerful light at the platform, temporarily blinding all present. As the smoke and light faded, everyone eagerly looked to see what had been done to the captive techo.  
  
Glitz, bewildered, the light from the blast still fading from his eyes, coughed weakly as a tendril of smoke curled from his mouth and didn't hear the first murmurs of approval from those in attendance. Sloth looked at him bemusedly, nodding faintly and Wizlow's pen scratched wildly on her clipboard.   
  
"Squick? Yiff? Care to show our subject his new look?" Sloth asked as the two mutant kacheeks instantly sprang into action, scurrying across the floor and out of sight. New look? What was he talking about, Glitz wondered. The two mutants returned shortly, carrying between the two of them, a large mirror which they bumbled up the steps of the platform and set up in front of him. Glitz looked blearily into it, not sure what he was supposed to see at first.  
  
And then he noticed it. His yellow pelt had been replaced with a creamy white color, adorned here and there with orchid-colored stripes. He blinked and then blinked again, trying to confirm that it really was him. He bit back the groan in his throat at how utterly ridiculous he looked....like some sort of malformed circus-clown.  
  
"Ms. Pendragon, make a note please. So far the ray seems to be having the same effect on adult neopets as on the children." Sloth said loudly, focusing his gaze on the techo. "But we're far from done yet....so we'll see." Far from done yet....Glitz didn't like the sound of that much. "Clear the platform." Sloth announced as Squick and Yiff hurried back down the stairs, clumsily carrying the mirror with them. When they were gone, he punched the button again. Glitz's already-burned skin tingled painfully as the ray's light engulfed him again. Coupled with the burning, there was a shifting feeling within himself and a deep-seated crackling as he cried out.   
  
"Ewww....talk about falling out of the ugly tree and hitting every branch...." Squick remarked from his perch near Wizlow's feet. The green being scowled down at the mutated neopet and, taking her clipboard in both hands, brought it down on the kacheek's head as hard as she could. Squick made a sound like a strangled question mark and scurried away.   
  
"Ms. Pendragon....." Sloth said warningly.  
  
"Sorry." she shrugged with a smirk and then turned her attention to the techo. "Mutant this time. Nice. He looks like Beethoven." she commented, snickering.   
  
"Let's not mock the test subject." Sloth told her. "There's time for that later." he added. Glitz was tempted to ask for the mirror again, though he was almost certain he wouldn't recieve it. He felt terrible and, knowing what mutated techos looked like, supposed he looked to match how he felt. "Clear the deck." the doctor said sharply. The techo was engulfed in the ray's light a third time, this one feeling as though a thousand knives were piercing his flesh from every angle. Helpless to stop it, he threw his head back and screamed.  
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~  
  
Karma didn't know how long she sat alone in the dark. As the poison from the tranquilizer dart left her system and she became more awake, it occurred to her how frightened she was of this place. The fact that she was wearing nothing but the lavender dress made her feel even more vulnerable. "Bastards didn't even have the decency to kidnap me when I had jeans on." she thought bitterly to herself, drawing her knees close to her chest. She started to wonder if she was ever going to see Glitz again as the minutes ticked past. The door to the experimentation room must have been thick enough to bar out any sounds because she hadn't heard a thing since they had taken him away.  
  
She guessed about an hour had gone by and, just as she felt herself about to be overcome by tears again, the door banged open and Sloth, the professor, and a procession of the others who had been in assembly for Glitz's testing began to filter out of the room. She bolted upright, eyeing the crowd hopefully but didn't see him among them. Instead, the professor led a defeated-looking gray creature toward the enclosure and opened the door. Karma gasped as she looked at it, tensing herself. Was this part of their "experiment", she wondered? Were they going to see how long she'd survive with this...THING in the cage with her??  
  
"Two pelt changes and otherwise no noticable effect." Wizlow informed Dr. Sloth.  
  
"I'm pleased." the doctor informed her. "In some ways, exactly the same as the younger neopets and other ways different. We'll continue tomorrow with the female." As Sloth strode out, followed by his crew, Karma locked her eyes on the monster they had put in the cage with her. It didn't seem to be outwardly aggressive at the moment and simply stood, its back to her as it groaned and rubbed at its face.  
  
And then it began to turn toward her. She drew in a sharp gasp, scrambling backwards as it faced her, its bulbous black and red eyes regarding her maliciously as it swung its spiked club of a tail. From its mouth protruded a long purple forked tongue and dangerous-looking spines sprouted from its upper arms and haunches, tearing through the tattered remains of what had been pants at some point. And now it lumbered toward her.   
  
"....get away from me...." she said in a ragged whisper, shrinking against the wall as far as she could.   
  
"Karma...?" it asked. Though raspy, the voice was painfully familiar. Still trembling, she peered at the creature warily. "Karma, what are you cringing at?" the monster asked. She looked harder this time....noticing the mane of gray-white hair. But no...! It couldn't be! "Its just me..." the creature said, sounding hurt.   
  
"Glitz...?" she squeaked breathlessly. The mutant nodded.  
  
"They screwed me up royally, didn't they?" he muttered, shambling across the floor and squinting to try and see his reflection in the faint sheen of the walls. He couldn't see himself clearly, but the twisted outline of his body staring back at him was answer enough...that and, younger, he had experience with what a mutant techo looked like. He tried to summon the energy to be enraged, but found that he was too exhausted. He hurt all over, had been humiliated beyond belief, and right now felt that he could sleep for weeks.   
  
"Oh my god....Glitz...." she whimpered, her eyes enormous. "Wha--what did they do to you??"   
  
"I don't know." he sighed, sinking against the wall and wincing as his back rubbed against the plexiglass, irritating his burnt skin. "They've got some sort of laser in there that changes pets. I think I blacked out the fourth time they blasted me with it. God only knows how many times I got it. When I came around they were untying me.   
  
"What are they trying to do?" the frog asked, tears prickling at her eyes again as she blinked them back. "And why us??"  
  
"I already asked those same questions...." the techo muttered, tentatively touching a taloned hand to his forearm and drawing it back with a hiss. "We're test subjects, apparently. Sloth wants to see what the laser does to adult neopets."  
  
"But I'm not a neopet!" she shot back defensively.  
  
"I tried to tell him that too..." he grumbled. "Damned if they'd let me get a complete sentence out." His malformed and ridged eyes seemed to collapse in on themselves in tired resignation.   
"So now what?" Karma asked, at a loss.   
  
"I don't know." he replied. "I just don't know." He slumped forward, his club-like tail thrumming against the floor as he thought amid his exhaustion. There was a long pause between them and then he scooted forward, taking the corner of one of the rumpled blankets in the corner and pulling it toward him, draping it over his malformed body. "I'm going to sleep." he told her flatly.  
  
"Sleep? Glitz, how the hell can you sleep??" she demanded to know. "What if they want to kill us??"  
  
"I'm tired, Karma." he replied simply, closing his eyes and laying gingerly on his side, wincing as the bed of wood chips pressed against his tender skin. She bit her tongue, feeling the rest of what she wanted to say dying in her throat as she realized screaming at him wasn't going to help. Even if Sloth DID mean to kill the both of them, she doubted there was much she or he could do about it.  
  
"Alright..." she whispered, forcing herself to lean her back against the wall and curl up, trying to at least make herself comfortable even if she knew she wasn't going to be able to sleep. In fact, she didn't think she'd sleep for a very long time. She watched as the mutant techo shifted position a few times and then, with a deep breath, fell into a sound sleep. She half-wondered if she'd calm herself better if she cuddled up beside him, but was unable to bring herself to as she eyed the clusters of spines on his shoulders and haunches.   
  
As she laid on her side, curling herself into as tight of a ball as she was able and burying her snout in the flannel of the blankets and overwhelming scent of pine, a door opened somewhere nearby, making her freeze as she listened. Footsteps approached and stopped outside of their prison. There was a long pause and then a beep and a click as the door was opened. Karma lay still, willing whoever it was to go away. Hadn't they done enough? She remained perfectly still as the person scuffled through the shavings, not daring to move her head. Maybe if whoever it was thought that they were both asleep they would leave.   
  
However, she soon learned that the intruder had no intention of simply going away. Something made of cloth was pressed against her nose as a hand alighted on the back of her head to keep her from pulling away. She tried to gasp, inhaling fumes that were thick and dizzying. As she drew in another breath to cry out, she found that the only sound she could make was a thin ribbon of whisper that squeaked weakly out of her throat. "No not again..." she thought desperately as she felt her awareness slipping away. "Not again, not again, notagainnotagainnotagainnotagain...." the plea became a faint drone in the back of her head as she lost her grip on the world and everything was black once more.   
  
The intruder drew the ether-soaked handkerchief away from her nose when she ceased moving and cast a quick look around the laboratory to ensure he hadn't been seen. He looked warily down at Glitz for a moment to ensure that the techo hadn't awakened. Satisfied, he worked his arms under Karma and began to drag her toward the door of the cage.  
  
"Experiment in moderation....I'll give HIM moderation." he muttered to himself. "Trying to hold back zcience mit hiz ztupid moderation...oh vell. Vhat he doezn't know von't hurt me." The professor smirked, gently closing the cage door behind himself. "Unt now, my little doe, vee shall continue vhere we left off vhen ve were interrupted yezterday, yes?"   
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~  
  
Wizlow sat alone in her quarters, having changed out of her trenchcoat in favor of something more comfortable as she lounged at her computer desk clad in a baggy black T-Shirt enscripted with the pleasantry "If I Throw A Stick, Will You Leave?" and a pair of faded jean shorts as she waited for her reboot to finish so she could log the notes she had taken for the day. She had pulled her long red hair back into a simple ponytail to keep it out of her face and drummed her fingers impatiently on the spacebar of the keyboard.  
  
"Come on..." she grumbled at the machine as it went through its customary whirs and clicks. After what seemed forever, the menu bar appeared and she eagerly double-clicked on her WordAccurate program, opening her latest log of notes and casting a quick look at the paper she had had in her clipboard while they had experimented on the techo. She keyed in his basic biological stats directly below the finished notes of a skeith that they had taken into custody earlier that month that had been released a week ago.   
  
"Two pelt changes...." she said aloud as she transcribed the ray's results, her fingers working quickly over the keys. "Striped...and....mutant." She paused, flipping the sheet over and peering at the backside, keying in that, after the two color-changes, no effect had been noticed. It was a bit strange that seven more blasts hadn't brought out even a bit of a change, but everything had flatlined. The techo seemed to be just as weak as he had been when he had come in. Blood tests and nerve analysis showed no change in his strength or agility.   
  
She wondered if the ray was to blame or if, as neopets got older, they developed a resistance to being altered. Eh...it wasn't her concern. Maybe Sloth's ray was shooting blanks or something. She didn't doubt it....lately her colleague had become too full of himself for his own good and it would serve him right if something like that were to go awry. Damned lab ray seemed to be all he talked about lately after his last attempt to take over Neopia had failed.   
  
Wizlow finished her notes, saved them, and got up, crossing the room to fish a can of soda out of the small refridgerator on her dresser. As she popped the tab on the can and took a drink, she pondered how to draw Frank away from his obsession for a bit. To say she was enamoured with him was a bit of an understatement...and why shouldn't she be? He literally WAS the last man on earth as far as she was concerned.   
  
Wizlow Pendragon and Dr. Frank Sloth had been the sole survivors of a mass culling of their race when their home planet had collided with its sun. Those who had been fortunate enough to make it to the escape pods before impact had been launched into space in kamikaze directions, some being shot directly into the sun's massive heat and others being sent to tumble through space until their oxygen ran out. Wizlow and Sloth had been among the last of the escapees and had, instead of fighting over the escape pod they had come upon, simply agreed to share it.   
  
Fortune had been with them that day and the two had, after three days of drifting, found themselves pulled into the gravitational field of a new world. One that hadn't yet been populated, but that teemed with possibility. In its infant days, Neopia had been a savage world, ensnared in thick tangles of untamed foliage and rolling stormclouds that never rained but thundered constantly with the threat to. Frank and Wizlow had clung to one another's company as they had more or less claimed the planet as their home.   
  
As time went on, Sloth had become more and more interested with the possibility of other creatures existing on the lively husk of a world and had taken to experimenting on the DNA structures of the various plants, attempting to anthropormorphize them. Wizlow, having no interest in playing God, had sat out for the mostpart until she rarely spoke to Sloth at all and saw him only when the two of them regrouped for dinner each night. She felt they had grown further apart when the first of the creatures they had come to call "neopets" began to make their appearance and Frank had instantly begun chasing after them to learn all he could.  
  
The sudden population was still a mystery to her. Having gotten ahold of a copy of The Last Tome Of The Jubjubs, she had read a long-winded belief that the creatures, one day, were created by the mighty god Adamices and goddess Donnamakite as a gift to the barren world and in hopes that it would grow and prosper. What a load of rubbish, she thought. Whatever the reason, Sloth had drifted beyond her reach as time had worn on....and even today, though he still showed her a passing glint of attention here and there, she felt as though there was a wedge between them. One she meant to remove by any means necessary.  
  
She drank off another swallow of her soda, returning to her computer with the intent of closing out her word program and then retiring to her desk to draw until her appointed bedtime. However, as she took her seat, something occurred to her. In habit, she kept her favorite pens in the pocket of her labcoat...the same labcoat that usually hung on the hook behind her door but that had acquired a purple stain earlier and she had wadded up and thrown into a corner of the laboratory in a fit of anger at Squick's stupidity earlier when she had been unable to change immediately upon Frank's suggestion she do so.  
  
"Nrrghh....Wizlow, you IDIOT!" she cursed herself, getting up again and angrily looking for her shoes and at the same time, grabbing up her trenchcoat from where it laid in a rumpled mass near the computer and hurriedly pulled it on. She never ceased to amaze herself with how she could be graced with such a vast knowledge of science and technology, but forget something as simple as removing her pen from her pocket as she seized her black sneakers out from beneath the bed and pulled them on, storming out the door and down the hallway without bothering to lock her room behind her. Everybody knew enough to stay out of her quarters, after all.  
  
The hallway was deserted and darkened as most everybody had gone to their respective quarters for the night, the only stragglers being a few maintenance grundos and techos that scuttled through the dark, checking the lights and wiring to ensure everything was in smooth working order. They cringed as she walked past, paying them no mind as she mounted the staircase that led to the second floor. Upstairs, everything was eerily silent as she rounded a corner and pushed open the door to the testing quarters, going immediately to the corner she had left her labcoat it.  
  
It still laid there in a rumpled heap, for which she was grateful as she grabbed it up and shook it out to get rid of the dust moozies it had gathered throughout the day. As she draped it over her shoulder, ready to leave, she paused, swearing she had heard something. After a moment, deciding it had to have been her imagination, she moved to go again. But then....there it was again, the same distant sound that sounded like the brief humming of a generator. As quickly as it had started, it stopped, leaving her confused.   
  
She wondered if some of the lab staff might be doing some late-night work, but then dismissed the notion, knowing that once Sloth called it quits for the night, no one questioned him and immediately stopped what they were doing. Puzzled, she walked slowly toward the doorway leading to the holding quarters and put her hand around the knob. It turned easily in her fingers and she drew it open a crack, peering inside. Everything seemed quiet. The tables stood stoically in the darkness and, from where she stood, she could see the unmoving hulk of one of the test subjects as they slumbered.   
  
BZZAP!!  
  
This time she was sure of what she had heard as she pointedly walked across the holding quarters. Somebody was violating the rules and about to get in big trouble, she decided with some degree of satisfaction, as she neared the door to the testing facility and eased it open as quietly as she was able. What awaited her on the other side, however, made her stop short and gawk. Strapped to the ray platform, slumping and unconscious in her bonds, was the female test subject. Strapped, Wizlow could have dealt with....unconscious, again, not a big deal....but what struck her, was the fact that, all over the creature's body were large red welts, blackened and burnt at the edges where the ray had struck her. The air was thick with the smell of cooking flesh and small tendrils of smoke rose from her body.  
  
Never, in all of her career working for Sloth, had she seen a creature respond to the lab ray as this one was. It seemed to be having no effect on her at all and rather was repeatedly wounding her each time it struck her. She drew in a gasp as the room filled itself with a blinding flash of light, momentarily dazzling her eyes as she blinked wildly against the colorful spots blocking her vision.  
  
"You ztupid girl!!" a familiar voice screeched. When Wizlow's sight cleared, she winced as she noted a new crater in the yellow female's skin, smoking faintly and she swore she could hear the yellow hide crackling from where she stood. "Ztupid, ztupid girl!!!" the voice repeated. She froze for a moment, positive that the angry words were directed at her....but then relaxed as she watched the stout form of Sloth's lead professor storm toward the platform and hold an analysis wand up to Karma's skin, sweeping it slowly back and forth to check her vital stats. It blipped to show its results...apparently not giving what the scorchio had hoped to see. "Vhy won't you change, eh??" He put his hands on his hips as though expecting the unconscious female to reply. "Feh! I can vait az long as you can!" he announced, storming back to the panel.   
  
Wizlow, though she considered herself to be evil on many levels, never had a stomach for suffering or torture. Despite the fact that Karma was unconscious, it was hard to watch all the same. Was the professor really that loopy that he couldn't see that the ray was having no effect other than wounding her? She didn't know WHY it wasn't effecting her, but the fact remained that no changes were taking place other than the burnt gouges in Karma's skin.  
  
Another surge of light filled the room, making her compulsively bite her tongue as Karma was blasted again. Wizlow fought the urge to gag as another burn appeared on her skin and she made herself withdraw her head and close her eyes. Her first impulse was to storm in and beat the offending scorchio senseless with his own tail, but decided it would accomplish nothing. She might stop him tonight, but she couldn't be playing bodyguard to the test subjects 24/7.....and she knew that Sloth fully intended on continuing the tests. It would take him a few days to become satisfied with the fact that Karma wasn't effected by the ray but then he'd want to perform further tests on her.   
  
By the time everything was said and done, in fact, Wizlow doubted much would remain of the yellow being save for a tortured shell of a creature. And that she could not excuse. In the past, the few pets that had been reported as suicides after being released from their testing had bothered her, but she had quickly brushed them off. The idea that this girl would likely die in the laboratory, if not from Sloth's scrutiny then from the professor's insane administrations, struck a sour note with her as she hurriedly crossed the room to a gray box that perched non-intrusively on the wall to the right of the cabinet that housed the extra beakers and microscopes.   
  
She fumbled with the latch a moment before successfully opening it and running her fingers over the series of switches inside of it. In the dim light, she couldn't read the labels beneath them and decided it didn't really matter. The alarm systems all ran on a separate generator in the basement anyway so she wouldn't do terribly much damage as she methodically switched all of them off. She could hear a few protesting beeps from the computer networks in the neighboring rooms as everything fell into inky blackness and there was a dismayed cry from the testing room.   
  
"Vhat?? Vhat iz zis??" the professor demanded to know. "NEIN!!!" he roared. From the enclosure there came a rustling sound as the other subject, the male, awoke.  
  
"Karma...?" he asked in a groggy voice. Wizlow took this as her cue to leave, carefully feeling her way out of the blackened laboratory just as the crashes and angry yelling began from the room where the professor had been "testing" Karma. Not three seconds after she had found the door and slipped outside, the scorchio stormed into the vacant laboratory.   
  
"Of all ze rotten luck!!" he cursed, smacking his elbow smartly on the edge of the table and wincing as he surveyed the black laboratory...or at least tried to.  
  
"Where's Karma?" another voice floated out of the darkness, making him whirl on his heel in the direction of it.  
  
"Vut?? Who'z zere??"  
  
"Where is she?" the voice asked again, sounding lazily impatient. It took the professor a moment to realize that the voice belonged to the other subject who had awakened "What are you doing with her?" he pressed.  
  
"Nngghhh....one shite at a time!!" he growled, realizing that as long as the power was out, it was rather pointless to keep experimenting on Karma. Yet the why of it still nagged at him. WHY did she refuse to change? Stubborn bitch, he thought waspishly to himself as he felt his way back into the testing quarters to retrieve her and put her away for the night.   
  
After a few moments of stumbling and stubbing his toes twice as he found the stairway leading up the ramp to the ray platform, and some difficulty, he had removed Karma and dragged her back into the observation room. Glitz, if he was still awake, didn't give him any problems about depositing Karma back into the enclosure as he made an unceremonious retreat for the evening and punctuated his exit with a loud slam of the laboratory door.  
  
Glitz waited a moment before feeling through the dark slowly on his hands and knees until his palm brushed against the limp flesh of Karma's shoulder. "Karma?" he whispered, giving her a shake. No response. "Karma, come on..." he urged, shaking her a bit harder. When she remained limp, the mutant techo bit his lip worriedly, wincing as his needle-like fangs sank into the flesh....he had forgotten about his transformation.   
  
He worked his arms under her, lifting her into a sitting position and held her a moment, waiting to see if she'd move or make any noise. Growing worried, he wet his palm with the tip of his tongue and held it in front of her mouth, feeling a surge of relief as he felt the warm breeze of her breath wash over his fingers.   
  
"We're going to get out of here." he assured her, lowering his head and nuzzling her a bit, wrinkling his nose at the acrid stench of burnt hair and flesh. "I promise we are." Karma, however, remained soundly unconscious as, out in the hallway, the first angry calls between the maintenance crew were exchanged about the lack of lights.   
  
  
TBC.............. 


	11. Liberation

AUTHOR'S NOTES -- Since I forgot to mention it in my last two chapters (like the fool I am) Wizlow is not my character, but belongs to a good friend of mine (she is the ultimate Sloth fan and you can find her on neopets under the username Wizlow) And during my early morning musings as I sat here writing this, I have come to the conclusion that Squick shall henceforth have Bobcat Goldthwait's voice. Thank you o.o;;  
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"Hmph..." Sloth grunted as he disdainfully peered through the plexiglass at his two subjects. Karma and Glitz slept close to one another, his malformed club of a tail twined protectively around her left thigh.   
  
"Awww, frickin' love!!" Squick gagged loudly, quickly rewarded by a kick in the rear with the toe of the doctor's boot. "Owwww...." he whined, rubbing at his bruised rump as he shambled out of reach of Doctor Sloth's feet.   
  
"Where did those burns come from?" Sloth inquired to no one in particular, looking at the angry red welts that blistered all over Karma's skin.  
  
"Ahhh...heh...zose are not burns, doktar....zey are an allergic reaction to...." the scorchio began, silenced with an icy glare from Sloth.  
  
"Don't play dumb with me, professor." he warned. "I've been a doctor long before you were a twinkle in your father's eye. What's been going on here?"  
  
"Nozing! Nozing at all!" the scorchio said hurriedly, laughing nervously in an insanely high pitch. "Vhy would zomethink be going on??"  
  
"Because to be perfectly honest, I trust you about as far as I can pitch you." Sloth growled, leering through crimson eyes at his assistant. "And the two things I can think of off the top of my head that would cause abrasions such as those are acid and...perhaps...a laser." he said accusingly. The professor noticeably cringed at this, confirming Sloth's suspicions. "You insubordinate---" he began, clenching his teeth.  
  
"Hey boss!" Squick squealed, momentarily distracting the doctor just long enough for the professor to hastily scramble backward across the laboratory and out of reach.   
  
"Squick.....?" he sneered, clenching his fists. The mutant kacheek was looking bemusedly at a sharpie marker it had robbed from a clipboard and turning it over in its paws.  
  
"How many of these babies do ya think it would take to color all of Maraqua?" he inquired, pulling the lid off and sniffing at it curiously. There was a meaty thwap as Sloth loudly slapped his forehead in utter frustration with his entire crew. If they weren't blatantly ignoring his orders, they were flaming retards, he decided.  
  
"Get out." he hissed. "All of you...GET OUT!!!!!" There was nothing short of a stampede as his lab technicians and gathered staff hurriedly filtered out of the laboratory and left Sloth alone with the enclosure. His roar of anger...or perhaps the ruckus as his staff evacuated the laboratory, had startled both Karma and Glitz awake from their slumber and they goggled up at him tiredly. Karma had come out of her ether-enduced stupor roughly an hour after the professor had returned her to the enclosure and, after she and Dr. Death had reassured one another that they were alright, they had both gone back to sleep.   
  
"Nnngghhh..." Karma groaned as the various burns on her body stung wildly. Glitz moved to place a hand on her arm to comfort her but drew it back at the last moment, deciding touching her would cause more harm than help.   
  
"You alright?" he asked her wearily.  
  
"I don't know." she replied, wincing as she drew herself to her knees. She may as well have been naked, she thought with chagrin, as she looked at the tattered remnants of the dress hanging from her body. The circular burns in the fabric revealed her skin in several areas and the white fabric of her undergarments was plainly visible. And if that wasn't enough she was trapped in the same room with two men. Just wonderful. However, if either Sloth or Glitz had noticed, they didn't let on.  
  
"Had one too many turnabouts with the lab ray, I see." Dr. Sloth remarked dispassionately as he eyed the frog's several burns and abrasions. She scowled and protectively crossed her arms over her chest. "I don't suppose either of you remember what happened last night?"  
  
"What the hell do you care?" the techo spat, leering at the doctor.   
  
"I care..." Sloth began. "...because this magnificent fool I call a professor has thrown us back days of research by tampering with the results. We're back to square one unless either you remembers how many times she was dosed." He looked first at Karma and then at Glitz, smirking at the cluelessness in both their expressions. "That's what I thought." he said, still smirking though with no humor in his voice. He eyed Karma's wounds again and shrugged. "I'll give her a grace period of two days to heal before we begin testing." His words made the techo feel sick and impulsively want to hide Karma away from all of that was happening.  
  
"And I suppose I'll see you back on the slab in an hour." he added as a parting shot to the mutant techo who issued a low growl from between his clenched fangs, much to Sloth's amusement as he turned and left. Karma waited until she was sure he was gone until she allowed herself to double over in combined misery and pain.   
  
"You all right?" Glitz asked.  
  
"No." she whimpered. "Ahh...damn." she cursed, rubbing at a large blister on her shoulder. "I still can't believe all of this was from that stupid ray..."  
  
"At least you didn't end up looking like me." he offered. "Thank god for small favors, eh?"  
  
"Whatever." she muttered, forcing herself to stand and work the pins and needles out of her legs. Her hair felt unpleasantly greasy and gathered in a gnarled mat around her shoulders...though she didn't suppose bathing was something Sloth had in mind for her as she retreated to the faucet in the corner of the enclosure and cracked the tap, holding her palm beneath it as a thin trickle of blessedly cool water ran over her fingers and she used it to carefully dab at the burns on her belly and shoulders. It wasn't much, but it offered her temporary relief.   
  
Glitz silently watched her from here he remained in a half-crouch on the floor. For some inexplicable reason, he felt a mounting pity for her despite the fact that he had been through his share of hell as well. Feeling his eyes on her, she turned her head.   
  
"What?" she asked sharply. He flinched a bit.   
  
"Nothing." he said quickly. She cocked a brow at him and then returned to her water. "You know, that dress isn't going to last you much longer." he informed her.  
  
"How observant of you to notice." she replied disinterestedly, self consciously tugging at the scraps of cloth to better hide her body. What point was he trying to make, anyway? It wasn't as though she had a spare set of clothes she could change into and if he was bothered by it then that was just tough, wasn't it? She heard him stir and then come up behind her and tensed slightly, expecting him to have something snide to say to her. Instead, she felt something drop across her shoulders and blinked, reflexively reaching back to feel what it was.   
  
"You know, I don't think this does much for our relationship when we're ready to kill each other the first time we run into a puddle of bad luck." he said matter-of-factly as she looked puzzled at the fact that he had given her his lab coat to wear.  
  
"Its....its a little more than just a puddle of bad luck." she told him. "I mean, look at you. Look at US! He wants to pick us to pieces, Glitz, and we can't do much to stop him, can we??"   
  
"No." he grumbled. "But if its all the same to you, I'd really rather not spend my last few days trying to pretend you're not five feet away from me on the other side of this damn cage either." She regarded him flatly for a long moment and then nodded.  
  
"Alright." she said in resignation, tugging the coat over her shoulders a bit further. She looked the mutant techo levelly in the eyes, not quite as repulsed by his twisted appearance, but still a bit unnerved. "Thank you."  
  
"You need it more than I do." he informed her. "Unless you enjoy those mutants stealing looks at your chest when they think you're not looking." In spite of herself, Karma snickered and calmed a bit, favoring him with a lopsided smile. "So this is you now, huh?" she asked, reaching out and touching the tip of one of his eye ridges.   
  
"For now, at least." he sighed. "If..." he stopped and corrected himself. "WHEN we get out of here, I'm pretty sure Kauvara would be more than happy to sell me one of her potions." he shrugged. "We'll see, I guess." Karma nodded and then, gingerly, leaned in and gave him a gentle hug. He simply stood, accepting it and not wanting to return it as he was mindful of her burns.   
  
"I'm sorry for all of this." she whispered. "If I hadn't wanted to go to the woods we wouldn't be here."  
  
"Its not your fault." he assured her. "From the way Sloth talked, it sounded like he just wanted me and you ended up coming along for the ride because you were with me. So if anything, its my fault."   
  
"For what?"  
  
"For being a jackass, apparently...that's the only reason he chose me. He knew nobody would miss me." Glitz explained.  
  
"No...that can't be it." she tried to assure him.  
  
"Karma, he told me flat-out." he interrupted. She silenced at once and looked at the ground.   
  
"Oh." was all she said. He sighed and stepped away, retreating to the corner of the enclosure and plumping down on his rear. The tattered slacks he wore gave a protesting rip as one of his newly-acquired spines tore against the fabric. He didn't notice, or if he did, he didn't care as he looked plaintively out through the glass wall. Karma hesitated and then approached, sitting beside him and nuzzling up against him carefully, trying not to irritate her skin. "Let's just stay like this for awhile." she told him. He didn't answer, but complied as he wrapped his arms around her and for a long time, they simply held one another in silence.  
  
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~  
  
The day seemed to drag on forever as Wizlow retired to her quarters once again, but this time had no intention of winding down for the evening. She had sat through another testing session with the male techo again, this time resulting in four no-changes, a species change to a lupe, and a color change to split before they had stopped for the day and returned him to the enclosure. She had made up her mind after catching the professor the night before, that she was going to do something very unorthodox....she was going to let the two subjects go.  
  
She had more than one reason for this decision....the main one being simply that she was tired of the idea nagging at her that one or the other of them was going to die and the other being that she didn't think it would be terribly hard to make it look like the professor's fault that they had gotten out and she was more than eager to see the way Frank would rearrange his face.  
  
Wizlow unshouldered her trenchcoat and pulled her shirt over her head as she made her way to her closet, picking through the scant assortment of clothes that hung from hangers inside. She shoved through them, impatiently looking for one in particular. After a moment, she found what she was looking for and pulled it out, holding it in front of herself. The dress reached the floor in a flourish of black satin and a soft film of chenille and had thin straps that fit over her shoulders.   
  
The only time she remembered ever wearing it, or any dress in general really, was when Sloth had, a long time ago, agreed to a peace talk with some of Neopia's powers-that-be and had taken her along as well. The talk, of course, had gone badly and had resulted in another of Frank's attempts to "reclaim" Neopia for his own.  
  
Removing the last of her clothes, she hurriedly slipped into the garment and straightened it, giving herself a cursory glance in the bedroom mirror. She didn't particularly care for the way she looked in a dress, but it would have to do, she decided, as she returned to the closet to fish out a pair of black loafers to go with it. Taking a deep breath, she exited her room in a whisper of her skirt and proceeded in the direction of the laboratory.   
  
She hadn't gotten halfway down the hallway when a loud whistle pierced the darkness and made her freeze, her breath catching in her throat. "Heeeey! Not bad, Wizlow!" a familiar voice jeered. She clenched her teeth, feeling her tiny fangs grinding together. "On your way to yer own funeral, I hope?" Squick asked, poking his head out of where he had been watching her from the doorway of the men's bathroom. She was just going to kill him...that's all. Nobody would notice. He wouldn't even scream till after he was dead, she decided as she turned sharply, favoring the mutant kacheek with a piercing glare.  
  
He grinned, showing off his rows of oversized needly teeth as she stormed back toward him, seizing the first thing her hand closed around....one of the janitorial brooms, and swung it at him. Squick, knowing Wizlow's temper, had seen it coming and easily dodged out of the way giggling. "HEY! You should be ridin' that thing! Not swingin' it!" he cackled. His merriment was shortlived, however, as she caught him with it on her second try, making him squeal in pain as she trapped him between the end of the broom and the wall, sneering at him.   
  
"Shut....up." she said quietly. "Just shut your stinking piehole. The next time you talk to me, I'm going to squash you. Do you understand me? I don't care if its to say good morning, I don't care if its to ask me a question, I don't care if its to tell me my hair is on fire. The next time you talk, you'll die. Do you understand??" she growled. The kacheek whimpered and hurriedly nodded as she drew the broom backward and threw it angrily aside, leaving the bewildered mutant where he was as she continued on her way to the laboratory. Squick watched her go, rubbing at the bruised area on his throat. He considered screaming a parting shot at her, but decided against it, thinking she really might be serious about killing him this time as he half-scampered, half-limped into the shadows.  
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~  
  
"Ugh...beans and sausages AGAIN??" Chomby groaned, watching as Yahoo emptied the brown slop out of a can and into two bowls.   
  
"Hey, you think cooking is easy? I'd like to see YOU come up here and try it!" the cybunny snapped.   
  
"I know, but we've had that for the past four days for breakfast, lunch, AND dinner. I'm tired of it." the blue chomby complained. "Can't we go get some chocolate or something?"  
  
"Gee...lemme think. NO." Yahoo replied. "We spent all our neopoints this morning feeding that stupid doglefox." Upon hearing mention of himself, Snap poked his head around the corner of the kitchen and whuffed softly. Rose had asked them to take care of the petpet because she wasn't home enough to do so lately.   
  
"Hmph....was just asking." the dinosaur sniffed, bending over to pick up Snap and cuddle him. The doglefox lapped at his face, but not quite with the same enthusiasm he would have if Chomby had been his real owner. He sighed as Yahoo finished dividing up the beans and picked up both bowls, carrying them to the table. Setting Snap down, he resigned himself to meandering out of the kitchen to eat. Maybe if he pretended really hard, what was in the bowl would taste like something else.   
  
"Oh stop dragging your feet." Yahoo grumbled, sitting down and spooning up a mouthful. "In a few minutes you'll have a full belly and won't be able to taste it anymore anyway."  
  
"Yeah whatever." Chomby sighed, wishing for something else ANYTHING else to be residing in his bowl as he sat down, Snap trotting toward his chair and seating himself at the tableside to begin his appointed begging. As he spooned up a small amount of the brown glop, he was interrupted by a knock at the door.  
  
"Fer crying out loud..." Yahoo began, shoving away from the table. Chomby, glad for a distraction from the meal, eagerly got up from the table and galloped toward the door.  
  
"I'll get it!!" he howled. Snap, yapping excitedly, ran up behind him as he seized the doorknob and threw the door open, revealing a somewhat perplexed Rose standing there, clutching two grocery bags.  
  
"Well!" she smirked with a toss of her mane. "I can't say anyone's ever been quite THAT happy to see me before. I come baring gifts." she added, giving the bags she held a shake.  
  
"Food??" Chomby asked hopefully.  
  
"Maybe." the uni smiled, setting them down as Chomby eagerly began sifting through them. She walked past him and seated herself on the couch, groaning and stretching her back. "Our police force is a joke." she said to no one in particular.  
  
"Why's that?" Yahoo asked as he returned to the dinner table and fed himself a large spoonful of sausages and beans.  
  
"I've spent two hours in their office after work for the past week and they STILL haven't turned anything up on the doctor OR Karma." she explained. "And now they're trying to tell me that maybe the two of them just up and left Neopia."  
  
"Feh." Yahoo grumbled around his mouthful of beans. "Just went for a walk and suddenly decided Neopia sucked and it was time to bail? Didn't pack or anything?"   
  
"Exactly the point I tried to make." the pink uni sighed. "So I've given up on going to them for any more 'help'."  
  
"Gibben ub??" Chomby asked around a mouthful of the chocolate moehogs he had discovered in one of the bags and been stuffing his mouth with.   
  
"If they haven't turned them up after a week, chances are they're not going to keep looking." Rose shrugged. "So I guess you guys are just going to have to hope with me that everything turns out alright."  
  
"Did they check the Snowager's cave again?" Yahoo questioned.  
  
"They interviewed him personally, or so they claim." she told him. "And that temp is driving me crazy, let me add. All she does is scare the adopters and stuff her face." Yahoo laughed at this and set his spoon down.   
  
"What a charmer." he giggled.   
  
"How are you guys getting along?" she inquired.  
  
"Eh, we're survivi---"  
  
"Terrible!" Chomby interrupted, finishing his moehogs and moving on to the box of pink sprinkled donuts. "We've barely got anything to eat and its been forever since I've had a decent tucking in."  
  
"I tucked you in for the past three nights! What're you talking about??" Yahoo demanded.   
  
"You give me nightmares!" the chomby replied accusingly. "You keep singing that stupid Johnny Burbeck song!"  
  
"So?" the cybunny retorted...and then began to sing loudly "OHHHHH Mister Mister Johnny Burbeck, how couldja be so mean..."  
  
"Quit it!" Chomby wailed, clapping his paws over his ears.  
  
"I toldja you'd be sorry for inventing that machine. And now the neighbors, cats, and dogs will nevermore be seen...."  
  
"I'm warning you!"   
  
"They'll ALL BE GROUND TO SAUSAGES IN JOHNNY BURBECK'S MACHINE!!!" he cried out, laughing and ducking as a donut flew across the room, narrowly missing his head. From where she watched on the couch, RoseMadder rolled her eyes as the two neopets proceeded to argue and wrestle with one another on the carpet. What a mess everything had turned out to be....who would have thought that things would have been turned upside-down just because two people went a-missing?   
  
As it stood, people were afraid to come INSIDE the pound anymore let alone actually adopt or abandon. Ms. Whorley was just as mean as she was fat and if people had been afraid of Dr. Death, they were terrified of her. Rose had never looked more forward to her day off in her entire career....not even the bickering of the neopets could upset her.   
  
"Boys." Rose said above the clamour as they stopped in mid-struggle to look at her. "I'll stay over tonight and help get things back in order. How's that?" Like magic, the cybunny and chomby instantly ceased fighting.   
  
"Okay!" Chomby agreed eagerly, bucking Yahoo off of his chest and standing, his tail wagging.   
  
"Good...you guys put the food away and I'll do the dishes." she smiled, getting up off of the couch. They both agreeably picked up a paper sack and scurried into the kitchen with it and the air was soon alive with telltale clinks and clatters of things being put into the cupboards. Truthfully, playing referee for Karma's pets really hadn't been Rose's idea of an ideal day off, but she supposed it was just another IOU she could chalk up for the doctor, when and if he ever came back.   
  
She skidded to a stop as she entered the kitchen, ogling the enormous pile of dirty dishes stacked in the sink. It looked as though the two neopets had managed to dirty every cup, plate, bowl, and piece of silverware in the entire house in just four days. Up until now, she wouldn't have thought such a thing was possible, but apparently Chomby and Yahoo had proved her wrong. The uni took a deep breath and let it out slowly, determined she would keep her cool as she approached the sink and turned on the hot water, grabbing the first of the plates on which a thin crust of food and gravy had dried. It would be an hour-long project at best, she decided.   
  
There was a tug at her tail and she turned to see Chomby looking eagerly up at her.  
  
"Will you make pancakes tomorrow morning??" he asked. She bit her lip but forced herself to nod. Apparently she had no idea what she had just gotten herself into.  
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~  
  
"Its NOT a good look for me." Glitz pouted indignantly as Karma laughed, giving his now-fluffy tail a tug.   
  
"Its better than what you were this morning. Give it that at least." she offered. The split lupe grumbled irately, grabbing his orange and purple tail away from the frog and laying it across his lap.   
  
"At least I have fur to cover myself now." he said, curling his lips away from his maw of fangs and sighing, his pointed ears laying along the bullet of his skull. "Those pants disintegrated after three blasts with that stupid ray."   
  
"Could have been worse." Karma reminded him.   
  
"Yeah...Rose might be here to see me like this." he huffed, shuddering at the thought.  
  
"I don't know...I think it makes you look refined." she teased, reaching up and scratching him briskly between the ears, laughing as his foot began to thump against the floor reflexively.   
  
"Stop that!" he barked, jerking his head out of reach.   
  
"Sorry, I couldn't resist." she snickered. "Really though, its better than being a mutant, right?"  
  
"Its driving me crazy." he informed her. "Everything's about four times as potent with this nose...and the pine shavings are giving me a headache now."   
  
"Aww....poor baby." she smirked, resting her head on his chest. He glared down at her, irritated by her mood swings. She had been in a very irate frame of mind up until he had returned from testing not too long ago in his new body and now she seemed to be back to normal and teasing him every chance she got. Before he had a chance to formulate a retort, however, there was the sound of a knob turning, making the both of them whip their heads in the direction of the door. A low growl began to issue from Glitz's throat as his arm unconsciously went around Karma's shoulders in a protective manner.  
  
The door opened a crack as the duo watched, both expecting to see the wild-eyed professor again, wanting to spirit Karma away. Dr. Death had no intention of letting it happen again....he didn't care WHAT sort of damned stun gun the scorchio threatened him with, he vowed that as soon as he entered the enclosure, he'd tear him to shreds. However, the rage was shortlived as the person who entered was not the professor at all, but rather one of the other lab personell, and she was clad in some sort of formal attire.   
  
"What do you want?" Glitz snarled at her, his jaws hanging slightly open as he showed his teeth. One thing could be said for his new body....lupes had much more power to look intimidating than techos ever did.  
  
"Stuff it." she answered curtly, crossing the laboratory and looking as though she was about to jump out of her skin every step of the way. His purple and orange fur bristled as she came near the enclosure and the arm around Karma tightened. "And you can cut the macho BS. I'm not after your girlfriend." she added as she approached the numberlock. "I'm busting you guys out." Had Wizlow cared to notice, she would have laughed at the fact that both of their mouths had dropped open at the same time.  
  
"You....but...." Karma faltered, trying to get a grip on her words. "Why?"  
  
"I have my reasons." she replied simply as she keyed in the access code and waited for the accepting click of the bolt being drawn into the lock. The lupe and frog watched in bewilderment as the door yawned open invitingly before stumbling to their feet and exiting, breathing deeply of the outside air. "Now listen, don't get too excited, alright?" she told them both sharply. "All I can do is let you out. If you get caught by the guards, you're both on your own. I've stuck my neck out enough."   
  
Karma and Glitz exchanged a slightly troubled look as Wizlow made a gesture toward the door leading to the lab ray. "There's a passage back there into the storage rooms and from there, a vent duct that should be big enough for you two to squeeze into. I don't know where it goes, but chances are you'll find the outside eventually. Now get out of here." she ordered, giving Glitz a small shove in the direction of the door.   
  
"Thank you." Karma began.  
  
"You think I'm kidding?? Go on! MOVE!!" she cried, spurring the frog into action as she and Glitz scurried in the direction of the testing facility and quickly disappeared behind the door. She smiled thinly, slowly counting to ten, before quietly exiting the lab again. She had bigger fish to fry, after all.  
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~  
  
Frank Sloth looked up from his computer monitor, irritated malice gleaming in his eyes as a security breach alarm twittered on a nearby console. He waited a moment, and when the alarm continued to squeal, he slammed a fist down on the tabletop as he angrily got up from where he was sitting. He may as well not have had a damned guard system at all for all of the "security" they provided as he examined where the alarm was sounding. The third floor laboratory. He felt his fists clench in rage and decided that if he caught a certain scorchio up to dickens again, he just might make an exception on his "No Death Within These Walls" policy.  
  
He turned back to his computer, quickly exiting the program he had been using. The screen went black and a small "Please Enter Password" message appeared. Satisfied that things were protected from prying eyes, he set off after the source of the trouble with purpose in his stride, silently making a list in his mind of what he'd do to whomever had interrupted him this time. Was it so much to ask to have a competant staff to deal with mishaps like this? Apparently so. He stormed up the flight of stairs, beginning to hear the faint telltale buzzing of the alarm and winced as it pierced his ears with its whining voice.   
  
Sloth paused at the head of the stairs, peering down the dark hallway and noting that the alert light above the testing facility was blazing an angry red color. Just as he had thought. The doctor broke into a trot, hoping to catch the offending party in the act as he grabbed hold of the door, which hung slightly agape, and yanked it open.   
  
"Someone, apparently, has a death wish." he growled into the darkness as he reached for the lightswitch on the wall. Before he could flip it, however, another hand alighted on his, making him jerk backward as though he had been burned.   
  
"Frank..." He recognized Wizlow's voice immediately.  
  
"Wizlow, are you daft??" he hissed. "What if I had been carrying a gun?" She chuckled in reply.  
  
"Frank, Frank, Frank...." she sighed. "The things I have to do these days to get your attention. I didn't used to have to set off alarms to get you to look my way." Truthfully, Wizlow hadn't set off the alarm at all. It had been the enclosure that had once held Glitz and Karma. The door was set on a timer that would set off an alarm if it was jostled or left open for longer than two minutes....and though she hadn't planned on its sounding, it had played into her plan perfectly. Originally, her intent had been to distract him....but found that she had her own motives in the ordeal as well.  
  
"YOU set it off??" Sloth asked vehemently. "You mean to tell me that I abandoned a perfectly good ten minutes of work to play one of your stupid ga---" he trailed off as she flicked the lightswitch and flooded the laboratory briefly with bright flourescent light, illuminating herself in the sleek black dress she had selected from her closet before switching the lights off again.   
  
"All work and no play makes Frankie a dull boy." Wizlow said solicitously. He felt one of her hands give him a gentle shove and then heard her retreating footsteps as she went further inside.  
  
"Well....maybe a small break wouldn't hurt." he heard himself say, closing the door and plunging everything into total darkness.  
  
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~  
  
"Have you got it yet?" Karma asked as Glitz strained to pull the grating off of the duct.  
  
"Almost...." he grunted, feeling the pads of his paws beginning to slip. The metal grating shuddered as the rusty screws holding it in place struggled to keep their hold in the wall "C'mon....." he growled. There was a groan from the metal as it bent slightly, and suddenly came free in his grip, sending him toppling tail-over-applecart backwards and into a large drum of floorwax in the corner of the closet. "Owww...." he groaned, rubbing at his head as he sat up.  
  
"You alright??" Karma asked worriedly.  
  
"Yeah..." he muttered, getting to his feet and looking at the duct. The entrance was all but clogged with mats of dust and dead insects. "After you." he offered.  
  
"Oh please. DO lead on." Karma told him, wrinkling her nose in disgust.   
  
"You sure?" he asked, cocking a brow at her.  
  
"Feh. I'd rather look at your furry butt while we crawl around in the dark than worry about whether or not you can see my underpants." she grumbled, making him snicker.  
  
"Alright, fair enough." he told her, kneeling and brushing the cobwebs and dust away with a flick of his wrist before poking his head into the duct. It would be a tight fit, but not enough for them to get stuck if they were careful. He drew back suddenly, the dust irritating his nose and making him sneeze loudly. "Give me a five second head start and then follow after me." he told her after he had recovered. The frog nodded and knelt, watching as he tentatively slid his head and shoulders into the metal tunnel and then disappeared with a flick of his split tail.   
  
After slowly counting to five, she followed after him, shuddering in disgust as the tacky silk of a cobweb carressed her cheek. The inside of the duct was lined with a thin carpet of dust that swirled and clouded as they clamoured through it. Ahead of her, Karma could hear Dr. Death repeatedly sneezing as the dust made her eyes water. Up ahead, the spindly shadow of a large cockroach scuttled past with a small chittering sound as they moved.   
  
"What do you see up there?" Karma asked.  
  
"Not....CHOOF!! buch ubb anything..." he replied, his nose sounding stuffed. His eyes were bleary and the walls of the duct had lost their definition, fading to a wavery gray void in front of himself. He pulled himself forward another three feet or so, heaving his weight forward so that he would be in front of the dust before it clouded up. This, however, proved to be a mistake, as he gathered his paws beneath himself for another shove....and suddenly found that there was no longer a floor beneath him. With a strangled cry, he toppled forward, one paw blindly snatching behind him for something to catch himself with.   
  
Karma had no sooner formed the sentence "What's wrong?" in her mind before the lupe's groping paw closed savagely around the neck of the baggy white labcoat she wore, yanking her forward as he lost his balance and sent the both of them toppling over the edge of a large elbow joint in the vent. There was a brief sensation of flight and then a crunching thud as they landed roughly ten feet below. However, there was not enough time to reflect on this as their forward momentum sent them both tumbling forward in a tangle down the next length of vent.   
  
Their helpless rolling carried them over a rusted ceiling grate that, apparently, was too old and feeble to hold both of their weight as it spewed open with a groan, sending them both plummeting out of the duct and into a spacious concrete room on top of a pile of musty cardboard boxes that disintegrated with a faint crumple beneath them.   
  
"Ugh...." Karma groaned, rolling over and blinking dazedly at the ceiling of the strange room.  
  
"Nnghh....you alright?" Glitz groaned, finding himself staring directly at his own tail from the upside-down accordianed position his body had fallen into as he winced and uncoiled himself.  
  
"I think so..." the frog's voice floated up from the rubble of boxes as she slowly sat up, rubbing at the back of her neck. Her shoulders ached, but nothing seemed out of commission as she woozily got up. "Where are we?"  
  
"Hell if I know..." he grunted, rolling over and reaching up with one paw to brush his tangle of silver hair out of his eyes. The room was chilly and vacant, and looked as though it hadn't been looked after for years. It smelled thickly of mildew and off in the distance, water dripped incessantly. Probably the basement, he guessed as he got to his feet and winced as he straightened his back with a pop. "Nice digs." he commented sarcastically.  
  
"Smells like my gramma's house." Karma commented, looking down at the crushed remains of the boxes they had fallen into. There were rotted newspapers inside that were beyond being readable and had liquified into gray pulp.   
  
"Well, now what?" Glitz wondered aloud, looking about. The only way out seemed to be a rickety wooden ladder that led up to a trap door in the ceiling....and he wasn't about to be gotten that easily. Chances were, by now Sloth had people crawling all over the building looking for them and if they chanced that, they were likely to find themselves right in the middle of a cluster of guards.  
  
"Maybe we should stay here awhile." Karma suggested. The lupe shook his head.   
  
"No. That'll just make it easier for them to corner us." he sighed, his eyes skating the room. Aisde from the vast collection of rotting boxes and crates around them, there wasn't terribly much else. Against the far wall, there was a stack of plastic-seated black chairs with metal legs, dusty and growing mold from lack of use. Alongside these was an ancient-looking wooden table that looked as though it had once been part of the laboratory furniture, however now its legs had been eaten through by woodlice and termites and it was basically useless.  
  
Also, standing off in one corner which somewhat surprised Glitz, was a large grayish-white metal box with a small window portal on the front. On top sat a few bottles of fabric soap.  
  
"A washer?" he asked incredulously. "The great Doctor Sloth has a friggin' maytag?"   
  
"Well....I don't know what to tell you except that I don't imagine his clothes clean themselves..." Karma shrugged, wondering why it had come as such a surprise.   
  
"Nevermind." he said, shaking his head as an idea formed in his mind. "Help me move it." he told her, heading in the washer's direction. It was larger than the standard household one...likely used to clean more than one person's laundry at a time. Karma hesitated, but followed him and stood beside him as he braced his shoulder against it. "On three." he told her. "One, two....three!" The washer made a snarling sound as it was pushed along the concrete, protesting a bit. From beneath, a cluster of silverfish and spiders scattered in a flurry of tiny legs to find new hiding places.   
  
As the washer protested and wouldn't be pushed any further, Glitz eagerly peered behind it, breaking into a grin. "AHA!" he announced, squeezing behind the washer and heaving it away from the wall a foot or so.   
  
"What?" Karma asked.  
  
"Its one of THESE kinds." he told her, pointing at the large hose that connected to the back. "We're right next to a sewer and this thing deposits the water directly into it when its done washing....so if we can just open it..."  
  
"Oh please, spare me..." Karma groaned. "We just crawled through the lair of the dust bunnies and now you want to wallow around in the sewer too?"  
  
"Unless you have any better ideas..." he replied waspishly, kneeling and attempting to unscrew the bolts holding the rubber hose in place. His claws and pads, despite the fact they had good gripping power, didn't seem to be able to hold the bolts very well as they refused to budge. "Little help?" he shot over his shoulder at her. She glared at him and seized the large hose, giving it a yank. The aged rubber, its bounce long gone, cracked in several places and split at the top, making him pause and look numbly at it for a moment. "That works too..." he sighed, throwing his hands in the air in exasperation before working his fingers into the split and pulling.   
A swampy aroma began to issue from inside as he widened the gap and then, with a sharp pull, he found himself showered in a small cascade of freezing, fetid water that had been sitting inside the hose for god only knew how long. "AUGH!!" he cried, shaking his head and spitting. It was all Karma could do to keep from laughing as he clumsily got to his feet, stormed a short distance away and shook the foul water out of his fur wildly.   
  
"Beautiful. You smell just like a flower." Karma grinned as he returned, his face screwed up into a look of disgust at the putrid stench caked into his fur.   
  
"Shut up." he growled. "You're about to share in that experience."  
  
"Sorry. I'll go first this time." she offered. He shrugged, giving no protest and gestured toward the hole in the wall where a fragment of the broken hose still hung. The frog crouched in front of it, poking her head inside and gagged almost instantly on the horrible gassy odor inside. How lovely....oh well. Bracing herself, she placed her hands inside of the circular metal mouth and began to inch in, wincing as the cold slimy jelly of the sides slid over her flesh as she was swallowed up by the passage.   
  
Luckily, she didn't have terribly far to go, and could already hear running water on the other side as she wriggled forward, eyes clenched and mouth pursed shut to keep any of the foulness around her from getting inside. Much to her relief, as she reached forward to heft herself along again, she felt her hands break into open space, failing a moment before they found the lips of the exit.  
  
"You alright in there?" Dr. Death called after her, his voice echoing off of the walls of the tube and sounding robotic.   
  
"I'm fine!" she called back, squirming out of the mouth of the large pipe and standing carefully on what felt like concrete, not wanting to hit her head on the ceiling if it was low-hung. "Its alright, its only about an eight foot crawl." she added. There was a pause, and then scuffling from inside the pipe. A few moments later, the lupe's head emerged, a tendril of black slime across his muzzle as he wriggled out and joined her.   
  
It was hard to see inside, the meager light from the mouth of the tube, providing a dim ray of light but from what they could see, they were now standing in a long tunnel, a river of filth between them and the other side of it. "Well....I guess we start walking." he commented.  
  
"Guess so." she shrugged as they began to tenatively walk in what they thought to be the right direction, careful not to slip.  
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~  
  
"I'M TELLING YOU, SHE STOLE MY CYBUNNY!!!" the unkept boy behind the counter insisted, pounding one filthy fist on the desk. "SHE STOLE IT AND IT WAS LEVEL TWENTY ONE!!!"  
  
"Sir, a minute ago you said it was level seventeen." Rose said, clinging to her last shreds of decency as she felt her teeth grind together. The loud (and rather obnoxious) child was tapdancing on her final nerve and she felt she wasn't terribly far away from simply grabbing him by the seat of his pants and hurling him outside. To make matters worse, Ms. Whorley was acting as though nothing was even happening as she methodically tossed handfuls of nachos into her mouth as she idly read the Neopian Times. So much for a stressless day at work. He had been ranting about this cybunny for an hour solid, as though he expected her to be able to do something about it. She had told him five times that the police would deal with it better than she would, and all five times he had ignored her.  
  
Nevermind the fact it was impossible for one to "steal" another's pet in Neopia. Not without the proper forms signed, at least, and there was nothing stopping the cybunny from running away the first chance it got and back to its real owner if it truly HAD been stolen.   
  
"So I forgot! I'm sorry!" he whined. "But I want him back!! You have to help me!!!"  
  
"What do you want me to do about it?" Rose asked, beginning to get disgusted with the entire ordeal.   
  
"I WANT HIM BACK!!!" he screeched, making Rose wince and cover her ears.   
  
"Look...." she tried to explain for the last time before feeling as though she'd lose it for good.  
  
"Joeycucamunga, what the heck are you blabbering about??" a voice cut in, making both Rose and the boy turn their heads to see a rather irate young man standing in the doorway clad in a white T-shirt, a black vest, and leather pants, flanked by two lupes, one fiery and one red, that leered dispassionately at the spectacle at the front desk. On his head was a combed-back tangle of red hair and he looked to be one of Neopia's typical bullies. "I mean, for cryin' out loud, I'm growin' a beard over here!!"  
  
"I'll be with you in a moment, sir." Rose informed him dryly, sighing.  
  
"I ain't talkin' to *you*, girly." the young man huffed, putting his spindly arms on his hips. "I'm talkin' to THIS loser." he said, approaching the desk and glaring at the boy.  
  
"I wasn't talking to you, so butt out!" the boy snorted, puffing out his spindly chest in defiance, clearly not a match for the older challenger. "I'm just trying to get back what's mine!!"  
  
"Look, egghead, does this horse look like she cares??" the punk demanded, pointing a finger at Rose. "I got some business to take care of, so get lost!"  
  
"But---"  
  
"Buzz off! Make like an ameoba and split! Put an egg in your shoe and beat it!!" he said, giving the boy a shove. The whiner stumbled and fell squarely on his rear, blinking bewilderedly up at the punk a moment and clearly not used to being told what to do before his face dissolved into tears as he stumbled to his feet and fled the pound, braying loudly. "Oh brother, what a LOSER!!" the punk said with a high-pitched chuckle.  
  
"I'd be lying if I said I didn't appreciate that." Rose admitted, smiling faintly.  
  
"Yeah, whatever." he grunted. "Look girly, I need a new pet for my pack. Ya got any?"  
  
"We've got plenty." Rose nodded, getting up and opening the door to the back room as she motioned him to follow her. The kid followed, the heels of his boots clicking on the floor as Rose motioned to the lines of cages, relieved that he hadn't been here to abandon one of his pets. The two lupes bounded ahead of him and began filtering through the cages, snuffling at the pets inside.  
  
"You ever find that goon you work with?" the boy asked conversationally as he peered at a large yellow skeith that was contentedly munching on its bowl of kibbles.  
  
"News travels, eh?" Rose smirked. "No we haven't yet. As a matter of fact, he's---"  
  
"Hey boss, how 'bout this one??" the red lupe barked, interrupting Rose as the punk pushed past her and strode toward the cage in question, peering inside.  
  
"Are you nuts??" he demanded to know, peering at the blue poogle inside. "What a runt!"  
  
"Level thirty-three." the lupe winked knowingly at his owner. The punk's eyes instantly lit up.  
  
"Hey horsie, lemme have this one." he called at Rose. She rolled her eyes, flustered that the nickname he had chosen for her was the same thing that Ms. Whorley called her....horsie. Bah! Couldn't they see the horn on her head? Never the less, she moved forward to unlock the cage.  
  
"What's yer name, kid?" the fire lupe inquired in a rough voice as the door swung open.  
  
"Eggpee." the poogle said somewhat embarrassedly, glaring at the two lupes as they began to snicker. "Shaddup!" he ordered, drawing back one stubby paw and striking the fire lupe squarely across the jaw. The beast toppled over backwards with a yelp of surprise. "You make fun of my name again and I'll flatten you!!" The punk, obviously pleased, grinned toothily and reached out, giving the poogle's head a scritch before standing again.  
  
"How much I owe ya, girly?" he asked.  
  
"I'm going to take an estimate of two thousand, given how strong that particular pet is." Rose informed him. The boy arched one red brow.  
  
"Eight hundred." he told her. If Rose had fists, she'd have clenched them at that moment.  
  
"Two....thousand...." she said, beginning to tremble, feeling herself on the verge of a breakdown.  
  
"Hey, I got that moron off your back. How 'bout a discount?? Twelve hundred big ones." he retorted. The uni had put up with a lot in the days that Dr. Death had been missing....rude people, double-shifts, an obnoxious co-worker, people trying to scam her, but this boy having the gall to HAGGLE with her over the price of his adopted pet was the straw that broke the Apis's back. Something inside Rose's head snapped as she tilted her head ceilingward and screeched at the top of her lungs.   
  
"Geez laweez!!" the punk complained, clapping his hands over his ears. "Alright, alright FINE!! Take yer lousy money!" he huffed, reaching into the pocket of his faded jeans and producing a black leather wallet, tethered to his body by a thin silver chain as he counted out the neopoint bills before crumpling them and quite literally throwing them at Rose before grabbing up the poogle and hurrying out of the pound, his lupes following quickly behind.  
  
"Hey, what's the racket back there??" Ms. Whorley demanded to know. Shortly after she spoke, Rasvar appeared in the doorway to find the source of the noise and stopped short as he noted Rose, her nose pointed ceilingward and tears rolling down her face as she loudly cried. Not saying a word, the red blumaroo whirled around and returned to the front. "Whaddaya mean horsie's lost it?" she demanded to know. "Tell her to get over it and get back out here!" A moment later, Rasvar reappeared.  
  
"Umm...Miss Rose?" he asked timidly. "Mum says...."  
  
"I HEARD HER!!!" Rose screamed, amid sobs, making the blumaroo scramble backward and vanish again. Instantly, she felt terrible for frightening him, but hadn't been able to help herself. She was quite literally going crazy with all that had happened lately and between doing twice her workload at the pound, taking care of Karma's neopets, and trying to have a life of her own, she felt she was fighting a losing battle about keeping her head above water.  
  
Bit by bit, she got herself back under control until her sobs had died away to small hitches as she walked back out front and gingerly sat down on her side of the desk, heaving a long sigh and being careful to keep her eyes directly on the desktop in case something else set her off. The pink uni focused her thoughts on things that made her happy....freshly cut plurby bouquets, warm mugs of cocoa with raspberry marshmallows melted inside, soft summer evenings, curling up under her feather comforter and at night to sleep.....  
  
"Hey horsie, check this out. You might be stuck with me longer than ya think." Ms. Whorley informed her around a mouthful of chips. Rose's nirvana was shattered as a piece of newspaper was slid across the desk and in front of her nose, one of the human woman's pudgy fingers tapping a particular article. In spite of the fact that reading the paper was the last thing she felt like doing, Rose peered at the article in question, drawing in a small gasp of horror as she read.  
  
_____________________________________________  
LOCAL POUNDKEEPER BELIEVED TO BE DEAD  
  
Police investigators, on the case of the strange disappearance of Dr. Death (employee of Neopia's adoption facility) for nearly a week, report today that an, as of now, unidentified scatter of bones has been discovered in the outskirts of the Haunted Woods. Testing has yet to be done to determine the species of the find as the skull was missing, but detectives at the scene found the techo practicioner's identification badge nearby and are not ruling out the possibility that he may have been attacked and devoured by one of the inhabitants of the woods.   
  
"We've been telling people time and again to take care when going into those woods." says Chia Chief Fuzzlegrutt. "If people would practice a little common sense, we wouldn't end up with cases like these. Neopians honestly need to look out for one another better than this."  
  
Being that this is the only lead investigators have found after tiresome searching, all further attempts will be called off as of midnight tonight to find the doctor. Neopian citizens are reminded by the Chia Police Force to always bring a partner when traveling to Neopia's far-away lands as they are vastly unexplored and still are home to many dangerous creatures.  
________________________________________________  
  
As she finished the article, Rose found that she had, again, burst into tears as she lowered her head to the desk and sobbed bitterly. It wasn't fair....it just wasn't. Ms. Whorley, dispassionate to the uni's crying, tugged the paper back into her own hands and continued to leaf through it.   
  
"Ohh stop it." she grunted. "Here, I know what'll make ya feel better....RASVAR!!!" she bellowed. "Go get me and horsie some peach ice cream!!!" Rose, amid her crying, suddenly was overcome by a wave of sickness as she shoved back from the desk, whimpering raggedly, and made a dash for the restroom, slamming the door behind her. "Nevermind....just one." Ms. Whorley called to the blumaroo with a shrug.  
  
TBC......................... 


	12. The Kindness Of Strangers

AUTHOR'S NOTES -- Wow, I still have you here? O.o;; Hehe. Thanks for reading this far along with me everybody :) Just a quick note to inform you all that Staggpub is not my character and is yet another of my friends who requested a cameo who I found a way to weave into my plot :) Thanks to all of you who have reviewed so far and happy reading!  
  
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"Dead??" Yahoo exclaimed, hurriedly leafing through the rest of the paper. "He can't be dead! Those morons are just lazy! What about Karma??"  
  
"The paper didn't say." Rose sighed, reaching over to pat Chomby who had been sobbing quietly since Yahoo had read the news article aloud. "They must be trying to avoid a panic by saying a pet owner might have gotten snapped up too."  
  
"So they don't give two shakes about her as long as they come out smelling like lilacs in other words...." Yahoo snarled, crumpling the times in his paws and hurling it across the living room. Snap who had been dozing in front of the heat vent, leapt to his feet at the sound of the newspaper crashing to the floor in a spray of pages and advertisements and galloped out of the room with a startled whimper. "Sorry Snap..." he muttered, crossing his arms over his chest and fuming.  
  
"Oh no....no...." Chomby whimpered. "Karma can't be gone...."  
  
"Well don't get too upset yet." Rose told him, forcing a smile and trying to sound hopeful. "They still haven't identified the bones they found. Maybe they're not the doctor's, okay?" She felt sick again as she had at the pound as she suggested this notion....and couldn't shake the idea that she was lying to the neopet for some reason. And just what was she supposed to tell him if it HAD been Dr. Death's corpse they had found?   
  
"But...but...." the dinosaur blubbered. "She's been gone for so long....and nobody takes care of us except you....we're gonna be put back in the pound."  
  
"Will you shut up about that stupid pound??" Yahoo snapped, grabbing both of his ears and yanking them downward in a vain attempt to block out Chomby's crying. "That's all I hear from you day and night! Pound this, abandon that...we are NOT going back to the pound, alright??"  
  
"Yahoo, leave him alone." Rose told him sharply. The cybunny quieted himself and sulked.  
  
"Sorry..." he sighed. "I just.....I don't know what's going to happen either and its not very encouraging when all your daytime companion does is whine about your cooking and mill around worrying that we're going to get abandoned again."  
  
"You're not going to get abandoned again." Rose told him. "Neither of you. And if something....happened...." she forced the word out of her mouth like a bad taste. "Then I'll make sure you both go to a good new home and won't spend any time in the pound."   
  
"Promise?" Chomby sniffled. Rose, again, forced herself to smile.   
  
"I promise." she assured him. "But let's hope it doesn't come down to that, huh?" The blue chomby paused and then slowly nodded, wiping at his streaming eyes with his paws. "Good."  
  
"Will you take care of us till then?" Chomby asked.  
  
"Chomby, you baby, we don't need to keep begging off of her. We can take care of ourse---"  
  
"Yes I will." Rose said, pointedly interrupting the cybunny and glaring at him. Yahoo, again, silenced himself looking at the floor. "On a lighter note, I think there's some cocoa packets left if you two would like me to make you some."  
  
"Yeah!" Chomby agreed, bouncing to his feet and getting off of the couch.  
  
"I'll pass." Yahoo stated flatly, getting up and lopping out of the room grimly. Rose watched him go and, after a moment of debating with herself, sighed and started off after him.   
  
"Chomby, wait here." she told the other neopet gently. The blue dinosaur, looking confused, seated himself on the carpet and curled his tail around his feet as the pink uni disappeared into the den. The medium-sized room, intended to have been a study or something of that nature, had been converted into more or less of a bedroom for Yahoo and Chomby since, due to poor planning on the apartment designers' parts, they hadn't accommodated for more than the owner's living space.   
  
In the upper mattress of the bunk Karma had fashioned out of two bamboo beds with the help of the furniture store manager, the blue cybunny laid as a dormant hump beneath the blankets. Rose hesitated before quietly crossing the room and gently reaching up, giving him a gentle shake.   
  
"Yahoo?" she asked.  
  
"Go away." he growled, a blue-toed paw coming out of the cluster of blankets to grab his pillow and jam it sharply over his head.  
  
"Come on, don't be like that." the uni pressed, grabbing the pillow and attempting to pull it off of his head.   
  
"Just leave me alone." Yahoo told her, his voice muffled by the blankets as he clung tightly to the pillow. Rose set her jaw in mild annoyance.  
  
"I'm not trying to single you out, you know." she informed him. "And if you wouldn't pick on Chomby so much, I wouldn't have to be sharp with you."  
  
"He doesn't know what he's talking about." Yahoo retorted angrily. "And he really annoys me with this paranoia crap of his."  
  
"Chomby's just a baby." Rose explained, trying to appeal to his better sense. "And the scariest thing for every baby is being taken away from their mama."   
  
"Whatever." the cybunny replied callously. "I don't care anymore. Things were great when Karma was here and I should have known it was too good to last."  
  
"Ohh don't talk that way." Rose chided. "Karma's coming back." He was silent. "Yahoo?"  
  
"I'm tired of losing my owners." he sniffled, staving off tears as best as he could. "Either I'm not good enough or some freak accident like this happens...." Rose hesitated and then reached into the bunk, picking up the blue cybunny out of his tangle of sheets. He protested, squirming in her hooves a moment and then resigned himself, resting limply in her grasp as she held him out in front of herself.   
  
"Yahoo, thinking like that isn't helping anybody." she told him softly but sternly. "And its sure not helping Chomby to be biting his head off every time he says something you don't like about the situation."   
  
"I know...." Yahoo sighed, getting ahold of himself and not breaking down much to his relief. He hadn't cried since Ashley had given him up...but then, that had been the pound and this was just a case of Karma not being around for a little while. He lowered his head. "I'm sorry..." he said quietly. Rose smiled and hugged the neopet gently.  
  
"Well, you don't need to apologize to *me*, but I think maybe Chomby might appreciate it." she suggested, patting his back reassuringly.   
  
"I guess so..." he said in muffled resignation against her shoulder.  
  
"So how about it, want to get an apology out of the way and come join us for cocoa?" she asked, setting him down on the floor. Yahoo regarded her a long moment before smiling faintly.  
  
"Yeah, okay." he nodded. Rose broke into a grin and, together, they headed back into the living room to rejoin with Chomby. As the cybunny apologized to the chomby, Rose looked on in distracted silence, still inwardly stunned about the article and what it had implied. Was Dr. Death really dead? If so, she hoped it had been quick and that he hadn't suffered any. The thought of him having languished any was terrible. A cold shudder ran through her body as she forced the idea out of her head for the moment as she followed the two neopets into the kitchen and opened the cupboard beneath the sink and got a pot to boil the milk in for their cocoa. The nightmarish images were gone for now, but she was certain they'd be back later when she had gone home for the evening....and was also certain that there would be no sleep for her that night.  
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~  
  
"How far do you think we've walked?" Karma asked, panting slightly as they rounded a bend in the seemingly endless subterranean corridor. In the hours they had been in the total darkness, their eyes had more or less adjusted and they no longer had to guess where they were going.  
  
"I don't know. A couple of miles maybe." Glitz answered, also winded. "And I haven't seen one damn drainage ditch yet."  
  
"Let's stop for a few minutes then." she urged. She had been suggesting the same thing for the past half hour and up until now he had declined with the excuse that they weren't going to cover their ground any faster if they stopped and that he didn't especially want to sleep in the sewer that night, but that had been before.....back when he hadn't felt tired.   
  
"Alright." he sighed, slowing to a stop and carefully feeling his way to the concrete floor, making sure no part of him was anywhere near the water. He imagined between the two of them, they already smelled badly enough already that any garden that didn't wilt within a half-mile radius of their passing had earned its freedom. Karma fumbled down beside him and for a long moment, they sat in silence.   
  
"Please stop." she said, shifting her weight.  
  
"Stop what?" he asked, cocking a brow.  
  
"That!!" Karma replied sharply.  
  
"I'm not doing anything." he told her, beginning to lose his patience and not particularly in the mood for any of her games.   
  
"Well last I checked, we didn't come down here with any scapegoats so I doubt anybody else is doing it." she growled.  
  
"Doing WHAT??" he asked irritatedly.  
  
"Grabbing my tail!" she snapped back just as nastily. It was bad enough that there was simply no one else who could be doing it, even worse that he had lied about it, and what put the icing on the cake for her was she loathed having her tail touched much like most people hated having their hair pulled. And this was a hell of a time for him to try and get fresh with her, besides.  
  
"Look." he told her, holding both paws in the air, scant inches in front of her face. "I'm not touching you, now knock it off." She blinked, surprised, as she looked at both of his paws and then felt a cold creeping dread.   
  
"Then what---?" she began and then gave a strangled cry, swatting at whatever was pulling at her tail and scrambling backwards until her back thudded against the concrete wall. Something sloshed in the water and then there was a wet slapping sound as it heaved itself onto the cement shore. Karma cringed, waiting for whatever it was to attack her now that it had been provoked. There was a long pause and then she felt something attach to her tail again and cringed, her brain conjuring images of some monstrous leech as she panicked and drew back her foot to give whatever it was a kick.   
  
"Karma, don't move." Glitz told her, squinting in the dark. Another thing lupes had over techos was slightly better night vision. Though he couldn't make things out clearly, whatever it was from what he could see, was not very large and didn't seem to be attacking her.  
  
"Get it off of me...." she said in a tiny voice, recoiling further as her foot trembled, still wanting to kick it away from herself. Dr. Death lowered his head as he moved forward, flaring his nostrils and trying to put his keener lupe senses to some use and see if he could identify it by scent. However, all it did was fill his lungs with the acrid stench of the sewer gas as he gave it up and bent over, tentatively giving the creature a poke with one finger.   
  
Karma felt the pressure ease on her tail as whatever had latched onto it was distracted by the lupe's inquisitive prodding and took the opportunity to back away from it. Glitz frowned in puzzlement as he felt something glomp onto his padded finger and begin pulling on it yet making no move to bite or further hurt him. What in the world...? He withdrew his finger and tentatively ran a hand over it. Furry, yet the skin beneath felt like leather.   
  
A sound suddenly broke the silence, making both him and Karma jump. A long, loud rasping sound that was horrifically alien at first but then recognizable. Whatever the monster was had just let one of the loudest belches either of them had ever heard. It was followed shortly by a strange scent that was like rubbing alcohol and rotten meat combined.  
  
"Ugh...." Karma groaned, covering her mouth. "Sick..."  
  
"I don't know what it is." Glitz told her, gagging and turning his head. "My best guess would be a mutant....or one hell of an ugly petpet.   
  
"Let's get out of here." the frog pushed, uncomfortable.  
  
"I couldn't agree more..." he told her, feeling his stomach clench as the small meal of caramelized blunka beans he and Karma had been given in Doctor Sloth's care that afternoon churned and threatened to come up again as the stench still hung in the air. Anything that could emit a smell like that was not long for this world, Dr. Death decided, as they both scrambled to their feet despite the aching protest of their muscles, and hastily began to walk in the direction they had been headed in.   
  
For a moment, there was a squelching sound as the creature attempted to follow them and then only the sound of their footfall as they moved further away from it.   
  
"Think its gonna follow us?" Karma inquired.  
  
"I don't really care. I'm not going to slow down for it if it does." he shrugged. "And in case there's more of them, I'd rather not be around when they decide to turn this place into a gas chamber." Karma, really, had no choice but to agree with him on that note as they continued on. A chilly breeze began to waft down the corridor, making Karma pull the labcoat a bit more firmly about herself. "Is it me, or is it getting colder?" Glitz wondered aloud.  
  
"Its not you." Karma told him, a small shiver passing through her body. She found herself envying his fur at the immediate moment as he didn't do so much as flinch at the rush of frigid air and sighed.   
  
"We must be getting near Terror Mountain." he remarked.  
  
"HOW could we be getting near Terror Mountain?" she asked. "It's an island."   
  
"The sewer ducts go underwater in some places." he shrugged. "And it's too early in the year for it to be that cold anywhere else." As if on cue, another cold rush of air ran over them, making Karma's teeth briefly chatter together. "If we keep going, we could probably surface there before the night's out."  
  
"Maybe." Karma sighed, not terribly crazy about freezing to death as opposed to spending a night in the dark of the sewer. Of course NEITHER sounded good to her, really. There was a snuffling sound as Glitz attempted sniffing again.   
  
"Yeah..." he remarked to no one in particular.  
  
"What?" she asked.   
  
"I can smell the incense. We're close." Karma cocked a brow questioningly. "The Negg Faerie always has a really obnoxious peebeanjay blossom incense burning in her shop." he explained. "I've only been there twice because it gives me a headache after about five minutes of breathing it. I imagine my head would explode if I were to go in there as I am now..." he added as an afterthought. Karma quietly drew in a deep breath, but found herself unable to catch even a hint of anything other than the fetid gas of the sewer and decided she would take his word for it as they pressed onward, walking until they came to a large fork, their up-until-now straight path splitting into three ways.   
  
Karma and Glitz looked at each other and then back at the fork, neither saying anything for a moment. "That one." The split lupe said, breaking the silence as he pointed a claw at the far right tube.   
  
"You're just guessing." the frog grumbled, shivering again.  
  
"Could be, but there's light in that one." he told her.  
  
"No there's..." she began, squinting, but trailed off as she noticed that he was right. It was barely visible, but in the distance, pinpricks of white light could be seen cutting through the darkness. At the same time, the both of them broke into a quick trot toward it, not wanting to slip but both eager to get out into the fresh air again. As they ducked into the third tunnel, the light grew a bit brighter...not by much, but enough to irritate their eyes. The water, no longer flowing, was trapped beneath a thin crust of ice as they ran, no longer mindful of the cold as their minds focused on escape. Frost formed on the concrete walls in intricate lace patterns illuminated as the source of the light, a circle of brightness, appeared on the ice covering the water from the mouth of a narrower elbow joint in one of the pipes.  
  
They skidded to a halt in front of it, Dr. Death poking his head into the pipe first and wincing as tears spilled down his cheeks from the brightness, forgetting for a moment how much his pupils had dilated in the dark of the underground. An arctic wind howled over the other end of the pipe, sounding like the wounded moan of a large beast as he withdrew and wiped at his eyes, looking at Karma.   
  
"Looks like our ticket out of here." he smiled.   
  
"Thank god." she sighed with relief, crossing her arms over her chest to keep her body's warmth in as much as possible. He put a hand on her shoulder and gave it a small squeeze.  
  
"Want me to go first?" he asked.  
  
"You don't have to." she told him. "I mean, it can't get much worse than what we--AUGH!!" she cried, whirling around as she felt something, again, pull on her tail. This time, however, whatever it was, didn't have the cloak of darkness to hide behind as both she and Glitz goggled down at the gray, malformed creature. Its eyes were milky white, its ears laid back in two sharp points along its back and it was a little larger than a full-grown Warf. All over it was covered in a thin coat of gray fur that covered its wrinkled and baggy hide. Its snout was a blunt point with no visible nose and its tail was little more than a nub....to complete the hideous illusion, it appeared to be trying to nurse off of Karma's tail like an infant cub. The only conclusion she could reach as to what it was doing here now was that it had been following them in the water which was why they hadn't heard it behind them.  
  
The frog drew in her breath and backed away from it, watching as it scrambled out of the gutter of ice and shambled toward her, making small grunts and whimpers. "What is it?" she whispered.   
  
"I didn't know in the dark, I don't know now." Glitz informed her, sidling up beside her, his eyes never leaving the creature. "Get out of here." he hissed at it, bringing up one clawed foot and kicking at the monster slightly. It toppled clumsily onto its side, remained there a moment, and then got up, continuing its journey back to Karma. Glitz narrowed his eyes at its inability to be phased. Just what WAS it? He felt his hackles raise as he curled his lips back and opened his jaws, not sure what was going to come out, and ended up startling all three of them as a loud, sharp bark issued from his throat and echoed off of the walls.   
  
The creature paused in its tracks and cocked its head as though understanding it wasn't wanted for a moment, and then opened its mouth, a long belch like the one it had let in their first encounter filling the air...and with the noise, the same horrible smell.   
  
"Ugh..." Glitz groaned, feeling his eyes cross as he, again, struggled with his gorge. "Touché, I guess..." Karma put a hand over her nose and winced, huddling a bit closer to the doctor.   
  
"Unless its trying to turn this place into a gas chamber, it doesn't look threatening..." she offered, turning sharply away as it made a feeble lunge for her tail again. "Sort of."  
  
"I'd swear it was a mutant but I've never seen one like it before." he told her. "What's it been living off of down here?"  
  
"I'd really rather not think..." Karma shuddered, reminded of all of the things that made up the swill of the sewage.   
  
"At any rate..." he continued. "Let's get going." And saying so, he ducked into the pipe, beginning to crawl through it. Its metal surface was slick with ice, making moving rather easy...in fact, too easy. He paused in his movements, finding that he was slipping forward on his own and reflexively dug his claws into the ice, bringing himself to a stop. Behind him he could hear Karma clamber into the pipe behind him. "Its icy..." he warned.   
  
"I'm being careful." she informed him. There was a pause and then a thud as she cried out. He guessed that she had lost her balance and, knowing what was about to happen next, winced and braced himself. A moment later, she collided with him with a grunt, sending the both of them skittering forward through the ice-slick passageway, spinning and helpless. The outside light grew brighter until it seemed to engulf them both and then, suddenly, there was no floor beneath them.   
  
With a combined crunch and splash, the two of them both toppled into an icy sludgebank that served as a drainage ditch. Glitz surfaced first, squinting in the sunlight and shivering helplessly. His heart pounded as his body tried to compensate for the sudden loss of heat and for a moment he forgot about Karma. He was reminded, however, as she broke the surface beside him, coughing and sputtering as she found her footing on the mucky bottom and stood.  
  
He mused briefly that someone looking at her now would never have recognized the brown and black thing hanging from her shoulders as the white labcoat it had started as. "Have to get a new one of those, I guess." his mind gibbered. Had his teeth not been clenched shut and chattering, he might have chuckled at this. There was a faint splash as something else alighted in the water with them, followed by a troubled blurble and then a frantic thrashing and high-pitched squealing.   
  
Without even thinking about it, Dr. Death plunged a paw into the water, withdrawing the same creature that had been harassing him and Karma earlier in the sewer. Wet and bedraggled, it was even MORE hideous, he decided.   
  
"That thing again..." Karma groaned, taking up the tail of the filthy labcoat and wringing it out in a vain attempt to dry it. It looked up at him with baleful white eyes, opening its mouth and belching wetly yet again.   
  
"Thank you. You've been a terrific audience. Thank you so much...." he grumbled, waving a hand in front of his nose before the accompanying stench could attack him as he held the creature out at arm's length with his other hand.   
  
"Just what we needed. A mascot." the frog remarked, sloshing to the shore and sitting in the thin snow, watching as Glitz carried the creature to the shore with him and set it down a short distance away as he joined her.  
  
"I'M not carrying it around." he informed her. "Be my guest."  
  
"Right." she sniffed indignantly. "So maybe it'll decide to snack on my face instead? Forget it."  
  
"I was just teasing." he grumped, picking a soggy dead leaf from his fur.   
  
"WELL now!" a strange voice declared, making the both of them jolt. "I've seen that drain cough up some interesting things in my day, but never anything living!" It was accompanied by crone-like laughter as their eyes settled on a figure standing a short distance away. It was slightly hunched, wrapped in a green cloak with a thick purple scarf around its neck, leaning heavily on a stout walking stick. "You need a little help there?" the figure inquired. Judging by the voice, they guessed it was a woman, as she moved forward with an uneven, slightly wobbling gait and paused in front of the two of them. "Hmmm...." she muttered thoughtfully. "What a mess you two are." Up close, her face was still masked to the point of only being able to see a pair of piercing china blue eyes.  
  
"Four or so miles of sewer will do that to you." Glitz sighed, humiliated. The elder woman chuckled and then quieted, looking suspiciously back and forth.  
  
"On the run, I take it?" she asked in a hushed voice.  
  
"Good guess." Karma told her.  
  
"Not at all, my dear. Not at all." she replied good-naturedly. "One usually doesn't take the sewer as an ideal way of traveling, you know." She shifted her grip on the stick she was supporting herself on. "Well, don't just sit there!" she chided, waving a hand at them. "Let's go!" and saying so, she turned to leave.  
  
"Go where?" Glitz asked, looking at her suspiciously.   
  
"Where? Well out of that sludge, for one...unless you're the type that enjoys wallowing in the mud. I know some of you lupes are like that." she smirked behind her scarf. He wrinkled his nose in distaste and stood, a bit embarrassed now by his lack of clothes as he curled his sopping tail around his waist. "And I think the two of you---" she trailed off, looking at the wrinkled gray creature pacing blankly in the snow nearby. "---sorry, the THREE of you, could do with a hot meal and maybe then you can tell old granny what's got you running, hmm?" She stooped, scooping up the strange creature that had followed them out of the sewer and cuddled it against her chest, making a feeling of revulsion creep over both of them. How could she stand to have it touching her let alone cuddle it like it was a baby? It turned its head and immediately began to suckle on one of her fingers as extended the stick she held, playfully bapping Glitz on the nose with the butt of it, not hard enough to hurt, before turning to hobble away, again motioning them to follow.   
  
"Are we going?" Karma whispered.   
  
"I don't like this." he replied quietly. "Seems too good to be true...that some old lady would take in a couple of complete strangers she found in the sewer that she knows are escapees."  
  
"Strangers?" the old woman cackled, turning to look over her shoulder. "Oh please, dearheart. I insist that anyone who comes splashing out into my backyard consider themselves at least a friend of mine." She dropped one eyelid in a wink at him, leaving him wondering if he was more astonished at her complete trusting nature or the fact she had heard him whisper from at least ten yards away.  
  
"Well, I guess we don't have much better options." Karma told him.   
  
"That's not true." he argued. "If we can find a ferry back to Neopia Central..."  
  
"And pay for it with what??" she snapped. "Unless you managed to hang onto your wallet because I sure didn't." He fell silent at this, snarling a bit.   
  
"Alright, fine." he told her. "But if I'm right....if this turns out to be a trap...." he poked her collarbone with the tip of one claw. "Then I don't want to hear any complaining out of you." Saying so, he turned to follow after the woman as she hobbled up a nearby hillside, following the set of tracks she had made coming down. Karma paused only a moment before trailing after them.   
  
"So tell me..." Glitz said, panting a bit as they climbed the steep hillside. The elder woman, though she looked feeble, was not so much as winded. "Do your afternoon walks USUALLY take you past the sewer drains?"   
  
"Ohh...you might say my walks have taken me a bit all over." she answered cryptically. "But don't you worry your furry head, son. Hasn't been a hooligan on this mountain that's dared cross this old granny." she chuckled. "Keep up with me, kids, we're almost there." Karma shielded her eyes from an icy wind and tried to ignore the heavy numbness in her feet as they climbed over the crest of the hill and found themselves overlooking a rather level area of snow, and amid it, a sturdy wood cabin, silver tendrils of smoke curling out of its chimney. "There it is." the old woman informed them.   
  
"Not very fancy, but it'll do.. Let's get the three of you inside." she added, hefting her walking stick into the snow ahead and pulling herself up behind it. Glitz shot a quick look over his shoulder at Karma, checking to see if she was really sure about this. Seeing the look of indifference in her eyes, he obediently kept walking. He supposed, at the very least, if it WAS a trap, he'd rather be captured in the comfort of shelter than running around outside like a blind lenny in a hailstorm.   
  
A moment later, they reached the front porch and the woman eased open the front door, enveloping them all in a wave of warmth as she stood aside and motioned them in. "Hurry up now" she chided, watching the frog and lupe pass indoors. "Let's keep the winter *out*side!" She paused, shifting her grip on the small brown creature in the crook of her arm as she cast a quick look around the outside to make sure no one had followed and then closed the cabin door.   
  
As the warm air coursed through her body, Karma's muscles came alive with protesting aches from the walking they had done and she leaned against the wall, trying not to keel over as the strange woman stooped, setting the creature on the floor and then straightened herself again, beginning to untwine the heavy scarf from around her neck   
  
"Thank you." Karma said breathlessly, fighting to keep her knees from buckling.   
  
"Not a problem at all, dear." she replied as she set aside her walking stick, hanging the scarf neatly on a hook beside the door before lifting back her cloak's hood. Glitz flinched as beneath, instead of the wizened human's face they had both expected, were the sleek features of a feline. "My name is Staggpub." the tigress informed them. "But the two of you can call me Gran or Granny if you like. Its what my friends call me." she smiled to reveal glistening ivory teeth. Her pelt was an enigma of black and orange stripes with hints of silver here and there to show her age. "Make yourselves comfortable and I'll be right back."  
  
"Still think this is a trap?" Karma asked, stumbling forward and half-sitting, half-collapsing on the edge of the a sofa that was parked in front of the small brick fireplace where a crackling blaze was burning.   
  
"Not as much as I had before." he admitted. "But I wouldn't get too comfortable just yet."  
  
"I hate to say it, but I don't think even if the Monoceraptor himself came tearing through this room, I'd be able to get up." Karma replied, eyes closed. He looked at her for a long moment and then smiled a bit.   
  
"I'll have to give you that, then..." he said, coming around the front of the sofa and moving to sit beside her.   
  
"Mrew? Better watch that tail, friend." a gentle voice said, making him pause and turn to look behind him. On a worn red throw pillow, was curled a delicate little desert aisha who blinked up at him lazily with her narrow sapphire eyes. "Looks like mom's caught herself another couple of wanderers." she smirked.  
  
"What do you mean, 'caught'?" the lupe asked suspiciously. The aisha blinked.  
  
"Just a figure of speech....calm yourself." the aisha replied calmly, curling its tail around its paws. "Nice to meet you, by the way. My name is Jenny945...Jen if you want the short version."   
  
"Hello." he greeted her, moving over a bit and sitting between Karma's inert form and the lounging aisha.   
  
"You don't have a name?" Jen inquired. "Alright, I hereby dub you Fluffwad." the aisha grinned widely. He blinked and then glared at the pet.   
  
"I have a name." he informed Jen sourly.  
  
"Too bad. I like Fluffwad." the aisha chuckled as he shook his head slightly. "Ohh don't be such a grouch. Here." Jen said, fishing a paw between the cushions and producing something soft and pink. "Since you're probably staying the night, you can cuddle this when you go to sleep." Jen informed him, laying the angel chia plushie in his lap. "But don't get any hairballs on it and no ripping it up, okay?"   
  
"I'll pass." he sighed, picking the plushie up and setting it in the crook between Karma's shoulder and neck. The frog sighed and shifted position a bit, already soundly sleeping. He looked fondly at her a moment and then back at the aisha.   
  
"Pbht...you're no fun." the feline snorted and then turned her head as the sound of padding footsteps drew near. Glitz looked up as Staggpub returned, a tangle of linens in her arms, which she laid over the back of the sofa.  
  
"There's some clothes in there for you both. They'll probably be a bit big, but they're better than running around in what you've been wearing, yes?" Glitz, again mindful of the fact he had nothing on, blushed a bit under his fur.   
  
"Thank you." he said quietly.   
  
"And for your little friend, I have this." the tigress smiled, her china blue eyes sparkling as she produced a floppy yellow poogle plushie, grinning vacantly as its felt tongue lulled out between its stitched lips. He cocked a brow and was about to ask her what she meant, but before he could, she had crossed the room to where the creature they had met in the sewer was absently attempting to swallow a red bouncy ball it had found under the endtable on the other side of the couch, likely belonging to Jenny. "Here now, you don't want that." she told it, tugging the ball out of its leathery lips with a soft "plook" sound.   
  
The creature looked up at her questioningly and opened its jaws, belching quietly. If it bothered Staggpub, she didn't let on as she set the toy down in front of the monster. "You go on now." she urged. "Play and have fun." The creature looked questioningly at the plushie and leaned forward, glomping onto its nose with its lips and suckling. At once, the creature began to transform, its skin rippling and shifting. The milky white cleared out if its eyes, revealing shiny black and the gray fur slowly turned a buttery yellow until, lying in place of the hideous mutant was a dirty baby poogle, little more than a newborn.   
  
"Hmph, I thought so." the tigress huffed. "He should be ashamed of himself, mutating baby pets, that doctor should!" The poogle gave a questioning squeak as it dropped the plushie from its mouth and looked up at Staggpub. "Now don't be afraid, little one." she whispered, picking the infant poogle up and carrying it to the kitchen. "I think I've got just the thing for you." There was the sound of a refrigerator door opening and the clinking of various bottles and jars. A moment later, the tigress returned to the living room, the poogle in her arms and hungrily feeding from a makeshift bottle filled with milk.  
  
"It makes me sick sometimes." the aged tigress muttered. "Its not enough that Sloth devils Neopia's leaders and armies, but he has to pick on the cublings too?"   
  
"Awww! Cute!" Jen remarked, standing and peering over the top of the couch at the tiny poogle. "Let me, mom, please??" she pleaded, holding out her small arms. Staggpub hesitated and then carefully laid the poogle in her aisha's arms.   
  
"Support her head, Jen, and hold the bottle as straight as you can so she doesn't suck air." The aisha, likely not even listening to her mother, had concentrated her attention on the baby neopet in her arms, whispering and cooing to it softly as it fed. The tigress smirked and shook her head indulgently, turning her attention to the bedraggled split lupe on the couch. "You know, I'd swear I've seen you before, son." she remarked. "Did you run for one of the teams in the Kyrii Bobsled Tournaments when you were younger?"  
  
"No." Glitz replied, looking up from where he had been picking through the clothes she had laid out, having selected a teal sweater and a pair of baggy bluejeans. "Actually, I've only been a lupe since this evening." She quirked an eyebrow at him.  
  
"I suppose that had something to do with the person you were running from, am I right?" she asked. He nodded and moved to pull on the sweater. "Why don't you wait on that for a bit? I've got a tub you can use." the tigress offered. "And when you're done, you can wake up your wife and---"  
  
"She's not my wife." he answered reflexively, wincing as it had come out a bit more harsh than he had meant it to. Staggpub grinned slightly.  
  
"Of course." she nodded. "Your lady-friend then, and she can get cleaned up as well. And then tomorrow we'll give your little pet a bath." she reached out, giving his shoulder a pat. "Bathroom is down the hall, second door on the right and the towels are in the closet. I'm going to start up some coffee if you want to join me later." Saying so, she turned and, with a flick of her tail, disappeared into the kitchen again. He remained on the couch for a moment, debating simply getting dressed and ignoring the offer, but getting the sludge out of his hair and fur before it dried sounded far more appealing than allowing it to dry overnight. Making up his mind, he got up from the couch and padded down the hallway, closing himself into the bathroom.  
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~  
  
An hour had passed and, satisfied that he was as clean as he was going to get, Glitz had gotten dressed but had roused Karma for a shower of her own. While the frog was bathing, the split lupe wandered into the kitchen where Staggpub was sitting quietly at the table, a mug of steaming coffee in her paws. She smiled at him as he entered and pointed a tapered claw at the seat across from herself.  
  
"Didn't think you'd come to join ol' Gran for a drink." she smiled as he sat. "Its good to see you."  
  
"I have to thank you for putting us up here." he told her, casting a look out the window at the now-darkened icy landscape. "We'd probably be out there freezing to death about now if you hadn't."  
  
"Oohh." she grinned, waving her hand dismissively. "What I did for you and her, I would have done for anyone else. Well...ALMOST anyone else. If Mr. Sloth had fallen out of that drain, I think I might have seen how many snowballs I could pelt him with before he noticed me." she chuckled. He smiled a bit and leaned back in the chair. "Let me get you some coffee." she told him.  
  
"That's alright, I can get it." he told her, standing. She gave him a push that, though gentle by a tiger's standards, knocked him somewhat off-balance as he stumbled to catch himself.   
  
"Heh, I may be getting a little old, but I'm not feeble yet." she told him, winking as she made her way to the half-empty pot on the stove, fetching a mug from her cupboard and filling it with the steaming black brew. "There now." she smiled, turning and walking back to the table, offering him the mug.   
  
"Thanks." he told her, accepting it and taking a drink. The hot liquid was heavenly, even as it burnt his throat slightly on the way down. How long had it been since he had had a decent cup of coffee anyway? For that matter, how long had he been missing? Four days? A week? More? He supposed it didn't much matter anymore and hoped that not too much had changed in his absence.   
  
"Now then." Staggpub began, seating herself. "I want to hear it all."   
  
"All of what?" he asked, setting the coffee on the table.   
  
"All of what?" she echoed. "Your fiasco, my boy...I want to hear how a strapping lupe like yourself and a lovely lady like that went from your, no doubt, respectable lives to lying face-down in a drainage ditch. If there's one thing I still enjoy, its good, long stories." she grinned, placing her elbows on the table and leaning forward intently, her tail swishing quietly against the back of her chair. He paused in thought for a moment, wondering where, honestly, to begin.   
  
"My details are a little fuzzy." he told her. "You sure you want to listen to all of this?"   
  
"Glitz?" Karma's voice filtered into the room, making both the tigress and lupe turn their heads. The frog stood there, hair still sleek and wet from the shower and wrapped in a flannel green bathrobe. "I'm going to go to sleep now." she informed him, smiling weakly.   
  
"For the best, dear." Staggpub informed her, smiling gently. "Those pouches under your eyes don't become you at all." Karma smiled weakly.   
  
"Thank you again. For everything." She said.   
  
"Oh not at all. Like I've been telling your friend, I'd have done it for anyone." she told her. "And don't bother with that sofa, dear. I have a spare bedroom you can use, two doors past the bathroom. It may be a little dusty though. It's been awhile since I've kept any guests." The frog nodded, stifling a yawn behind her hand. "We'll see you in the morning." Staggpub told her as she gave a small wave to the two of them and then was gone. "What a sweet girl." the tigress smiled.   
  
"She can be when she wants....she can also be an enormous thorn in the tail when she wants as well." he said.   
  
"Most women are like that, as I'm sure you know." Staggpub chuckled, placing a paw on his hand momentarily. "Now then, before we were interrupted..." she said, focusing herself on him again.   
  
"Well, we were out together in the Haunted Woods..." he started.  
  
"No no, dear, I want the whole story." she insisted.   
  
"Everything?" he asked.  
  
"Everything." she insisted. He looked at her a moment to see if she was really serious. When he saw nothing but the level gaze in her blue eyes, he sighed and began. He started as close to the beginning as he felt he needed to without mentioning any of his past trauma, explaining what his job was and how he hated it, he talked about RoseMadder, when he had first met Karma, went on for a bit about Snap and how he had been temporarily taken, and finally delved into their brief encounter with Sloth. Once he had gotten started, the words came more easily and he found himself going into more and more detail.   
  
Staggpub listened intently, sipping at her coffee as he spoke, never interrupting. At length, he began to wind down as he ran out of things to tell her. "And after that, we crawled out of the underground through the pipe and, I guess that's where you found us." he finished, clearing his throat. "God, how long was I talking?" he asked, realizing he must have been going on for at least fifteen minutes. The tigress cast a look at the clock on the wall.  
  
"Nearly an hour." she informed him. He jolted, stunned, not remembering the last time he had opened up quite so much to someone he had known for such a little amount of time. He had even known Karma for the better part of two weeks before he had finally let go of his bitter past.   
  
"You should have let me know I if I was starting to bore you." he said, surprised at himself.  
  
"Believe me, if you had been boring me, I would have let you know a long time ago." she informed him, drinking off the last of her coffee and getting up to refill her mug. "Sounds as though you and Karma have had quite an adventure."  
  
"Is that what they're calling it these days?" he asked.   
  
"Well I wouldn't necessarily call it a traumatic experience." she said gently, returning to her seat. "After all, you're both alive." He shrugged at this. "And you're both in love." At this, he didn't shrug, but flinched openly. Noticing this, she folded her paws around her mug. "You DO love her, yes?"  
  
"Well, its kind of funny...." he started and then corrected himself. "No it's not. It's not funny at all." he said, shaking his head. "Before all this happened...before we were grabbed and everything, I had been all set to tell her we needed to call things off. She stirred up some really overpowering feelings in me and made me face things I had been sweeping under the rug for years. I couldn't stop thinking about her and I knew being together was something she wanted and was upset I wouldn't give her....so I agreed to it."  
  
"Sounds like you set yourself up for a world of trouble, dear." Staggpub pointed out. "You shouldn't base love on what only one person wants. Both of you have to want it or else one of you is going to be miserable."   
  
"I know." he nodded, not really wanting a lecture. "But in the time we spent in that lab...I don't know." he shrugged. "I think things might have changed."  
  
"Mmhmm..." she muttered around the rim of her cup. "Changes of heart can happen too. It's not very common but it does happen."  
  
"I just have felt like I need to protect her. Ever since I saw what happened to her when she came back from being zapped over and over again that one night by that....BASTARD..." he heard the word escape his mouth before he could stop it and looked up at her hurriedly to see if she was offended. The tigress's eyes remained level and calm as she smiled a bit. "I enjoy being around her a lot more than I used to." he continued quickly, hoping to smooth over his momentary lapse in control. "I guess there's time to let her know about it after things go back to normal. You know, after we've gone home and I've gotten myself turned back into a techo. I don't want to suddenly start acting different around her right now and confuse her." he sighed. "And its getting harder to hold up this guise that I still don't give two shakes about her."  
  
"Fire's dying." the tigress remarked, changing the subject as she cast a look to the fireplace where the flames had diminished to glowing embers.   
  
"Oh..." the split lupe said.   
  
"Well, guess its back outside to get more wood..." she sighed, getting up.   
  
"I'll do it." he offered, not getting up this time to avoid being pushed again. She smiled at him.  
  
"You never give up." she smirked. "Alright then. Go get four big pieces of wood and an armload of kindling."   
  
"Alright, where is it?" he inquired, getting up. The tigress's eyes sparkled mischievously.  
  
"Go find it." she informed him, laughing. He sighed, realizing she was playing a game with him...one that he didn't particularly find funny as he walked toward the front door and turned the knob, pulling it open. "Don't go too far." she warned. "I'll leave the lights on for you so you know where the house is."  
  
"Thanks." he said unenthusiastically as he slipped outside into the frigid air. Go find it....did she mean go into the woods and break it off himself? He hoped not...mainly because he didn't see any woods to speak of nearby as he decided to check around the house first before he went wandering. He started around the left side of the house, inhaling the air deeply as he went. The smoky aroma of the chimney mixed with the frosty air and created a scent that reminded him of Christmastime when he had been younger and living with Aislynn....he shook the memories away, not wanting to recall them at the moment.  
  
As he rounded the back of the house, a surge of relief washed over him as he ran across a neatly-stacked woodpile and, hanging from a nail, a burlap sack from which spindly fingers of kindling emerged. He gathered the wood hurriedly and tromped back to the front of the house, shouldering the door open as he made his way to the fireplace.  
  
"Shhh!" Jenny hissed, cuddling the baby poogle against her. "Don't wake up Candy!"   
  
"Candy? You've named it now?" he muttered, laying the wood down and crouching to feed it into the fire. The aisha nodded decisively.   
  
"It's a good name." she informed him. "And its a HER not an IT." she corrected him.   
  
"Alright. Have fun with HER then." he grumbled, watching as the first flames began to lick at the new wood and slowly engulf it. Satisfied that the fire would keep going, he got up and returned to the kitchen, stopping short as he found it empty. Their coffee mugs had been washed and sat on the draining board and at his place at the table sat a squat yellow bottle weighing down a piece of paper. Curious, he ventured closer, ignoring the bottle for a moment as he picked up the note and read it.   
  
"Headed to bed now, but thought I'd leave this before I went. I used to be a collector of all things magical and pretty. You know how we cats are! Have started using my collection to help my visitors should they need it and I believe you could use this more than I could (as much as I enjoy the color yellow in a shiny glass bottle)."  
  
He paused to pick up the bottle and turn it over in his hands. At the bottom, the glass extended into six prongs that, he supposed, were supposed to resemble feet. A techo morphing potion. He looked back to the paper to read the rest of the letter.  
  
"Do what you need to do. Old Gran sure can't tell you how to run your life, but take a little advice from an elder. Don't play with her heart or you'll lose her forever. Go to her."   
  
The note was signed with a small sketch of a cat and nothing more. He read it over again and then folded it once, tucking it into the back pocket of the jeans and stood for a long moment, mulling things over in his head and then looked down at the potion he held before tweezing the cork between his thumb and forefinger and pulling it out of the bottle with a pop. The liquid inside fizzed a little and smelled like canned peaches and mustard all at once, making his stomach turn a bit at the thought of actually filling his mouth with it and swallowing it.  
  
Never the less, the idea of remaining as he was and having to not only explain to everyone and their grandmother why he had changed skins, but likely having to join Snap in annual flea dips didn't place itself very high on his list of favorites. Making up his mind, he winced and tilted the bottle back, feeling the liquid sting his tongue and fizz on the crowns of his teeth. Surprisingly, he didn't gag on the potion as he swallowed it, but the fact remained that Kauvara would never be what anyone considered a culinary genius.  
  
Almost instantly, his skin began to tingle and, as he watched, his fur grew wispy, beginning to fall out, the strands vanishing magically before they hit the floor. The smooth white skin beneath toughened as a scattering of scales appeared on it, fading from transparent to the firm yellow color he was accustomed to. As he watched the padded blunts of his paws elongate into fingers again and felt his maw of fangs shift and flatten as his muzzle turned itself back into a snout, the tingling feeling began to fade.   
  
He remained still for a moment, waiting to see if anything else would happen. When he was sure that the transformation was over, he tentatively looked at the glass of the kitchen window, relieved to see his former self reflected in the glare. Thank god THAT was over, at least. But with that quandary out of the way, there remained another as the last words of Staggpub's note repeated themselves in his mind.  
  
Go to her.  
  
It sounded nice enough, but too much like something in a storybook. He imagined most people didn't receive something that spontaneous very well....and it would probably confuse Karma more than anything to go from his being aloof around her to...well...THAT. He pulled back a chair from the table and sat for a moment, weighing his options. On the one hand, he could just go to sleep on the sofa as he had originally planned and tomorrow things would continue as they always had....but on the other hand, if he took the tigress's advice, who knew what would happen? Better yet, what was the *worst* that could happen?  
  
He realized with some degree of embarrassment, his hands had started shaking as he had thought about it and he sighed, folding them together to make them stop. He had never liked being unsure of things...and the fact that he had changed opinions of his and Karma's "relationship" at least four or five times in the time he had known her irked him to no end. He had gone from hating her, to tolerating her, to somewhat liking her, to....well, what was it now? Love?  
  
If it was, it sure didn't feel the way all of the Valentines sickeningly-sweet propaganda described it. It wasn't some fuzzy warm feeling that made him feel like he could fly....it was a deep-seated heaviness that alternated between thrilling and terrifying him, and just all-around making him feel off-balance around her yet feeling empty when he wasn't near her. A no-win situation if he ever saw one. Yet he found that whatever other conscience was debating the issue with him DID want him to go to her.   
  
His gaze wandered to the head of the empty and darkened hallway and his thoughts turned back to Karma, bringing with them another twinge of uncertainty and longing. At length, he made his choice and stood, pushing his chair in. From where she sat on the sofa, still cuddling the infant poogle, Jenny looked over her shoulder.  
  
"Goin' to bed?" the desert aisha asked, seeming unperturbed by his change of form...and also a bit knowing, judging by the tone in her voice.   
  
"Yeah." he told her with a half-smile. "I guess I am."   
  
"I won't wait up for ya, Fluffwad." she informed him, grinning and turning back to the poogle. He paused to watch her for a minute and then slowly let out his breath in a quiet and nervous sigh. His hands had started shaking again and he stuffed them into his pockets to hide them as he forced himself to keep going. Though he got the feeling very seldomly, Glitz felt that he was coming to a milestone in his path and knew whatever happened tonight, good or bad, was going to mean a change. A big change.  
  
TBC.................  
  
  
EXTRA NOTE -- Between this chapter and the next, there is a "restricted" section of writing that continues this last part that I have opted not to include with the original story. Number one, the series works just fine without it, and number two because it would violate Neopets' regulations to post it publicly where children might run across it. If you are interested in reading this particular section, feel free to Email me at driprat@attbi.com and ask for it. Also, It'd put my mind at ease if you included an age statement too...obviously I can't make you, but I'd rather not distribute my adult work to young eyes. O.o;; Thanks! 


	13. Back From The Tomb

AUTHOR'S NOTES -- work has been horrible to me so I dunno how regularly I'm gonna be able to put chapters out...I make you this promise, I WILL finish this o.o;; *cough* have fun ^_^  
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Karma awoke the next morning to sunlight creeping in through the guest room window, dappling the bedsheets in splotches of golden light. It was not the sort of sun that one could bask in, and certainly not enough to melt the ever-fallen slow outside, but a welcome change of pace from the flourescent lighting of Sloth's laboratory. She listed onto her side, numbly surprised to find that she was alone...especially since she knew that she hadn't gone to bed that way last night.   
  
She sat up slowly, blinking as the world came back into focus. At the foot of the bed, she noted that someone had set out a pair of black slacks, a flannel shirt checked in white and red, and a pair of plain white underpants that looked as though they were going to be far too big on her. She considered them for a moment before taking up the shirt and slipping it over her bare shoulders, buttoning it slowly as she reflected on what had happened last night, running through a rudimentary mental checklist.   
  
Unexpected? Yes. Enjoyable? Most definately. Regrets? She wasn't sure. She finished wih the buttons and slid out from under the blankets to retrieve the rest of the garments. A moment later, dressed in the baggy clothes, she ventured out of the room, rubbing at her eyes. The house was quiet, she found, as she stretched a little and wondered, with some amusement, if she'd find it completely empty and that this entire adventure had all been a wild dream of some sort.  
  
"My lord, the dead has arisen!" a voice declared as she turned her head, seeing Staggpub crouching in front of the fireplace and attempting to rekindle the nearly-dead embers of a fire. Behind her on the couch, the poogle pup lounged on the cushions, watching her placidly. The tigress smiled at her with an almost helpless shrug. "Blasted thing went out while I was fixing breakfast."   
  
"Where's...umm..." she trailed off, not wanting to sound rude.  
  
"Your friend? He was up almost an hour ago. It seems Jenny's talked him into following her to visit the Snowager today...and they should be back any time now. Did you sleep well?" Karma nodded, stifling a yawn behind her hand. Staggpub nodded in approval. "There's some oatmeal left in the kitchen if you're interested, dear." she told her as an afterthought, taking her set of bellows down off of their hook and beginning to puff at the embers with them, trying to get them to catch on the new wood.   
  
Karma watched her for a moment before feeling her stomach clench and roil in anticipation of food and she realized it had been awhile since she had eaten a decent meal. She padded quietly into the kitchen, finding a pot about a quarter filled with cooling oatmeal inside of it sitting on the stove and a clean bowl nearby with a spoon sitting against its rim. She heard the tigress come up behind her as she spooned the oatmeal into the bowl.   
  
"I wouldn't worry about things between the two of you any further." Staggpub told her gently.  
  
"Huh?" she asked, turning around.  
  
"I may be old, but I'm not niave, darling." the tigress winked. "He's got a tough outer crust, but underneath I think you've found yourself a generally good man. That's what I've gathered at least."  
  
"Hmn...would you know if he was bad?"  
  
"Oh yes." Staggpub smirked, leaning against the wall. "Evil men all carry the same odor about them...it smells like the air around a basket of staticy laundry." Karma, not knowing why this struck her as funny, laughed as she sat down at the table with her oatmeal. Staggpub waited a moment before crossing the kitchen and sitting across from her quietly, watching her eat. "Today you'll get where you're going....have you been missed?"  
  
"I imagine Yahoo and Chomby are probably eating the furniture by now, if that's what you mean." Karma replied. "I hope they're alright."  
  
"Neopets are more self-reliant than you think, dear. And I'll bet my grits on the fact that they're doing just fine on their own."   
  
"Thanks." she smiled. "That makes me feel a little be---"  
  
"GANGWAY!!!!" Karma jolted and looked up as the front door slammed open, Glitz and Jenny rocketing inside.   
  
"SHUT THE DOOR!! SHUT IT! SHUT IT!!!" Jenny ordered frantically, clutching an ice negg in either stubby arm as both she and the doctor slammed it shut again and slid the bolt into place. Seconds later, there was an ear-splitting thud as the door rattled in its frame, seeming to shake the entire house.  
  
"Jenny...." Staggpub growled, her fur bristling.   
  
"Mom, we WERE being quiet! I swear!!" the desert aisha implored. "Then this yutz sneezed and woke him up!!"  
  
"Like I could help it..." Glitz snarled, brushing a dusting of partially-melted snow from his hair.   
  
"I'm getting really tired of this..." the tigress sighed, getting up from the table and crossing the kitchen to the refridgerator as another thud shook the room. Karma watched quietly as she opened the freezer, taking out a flat white and pink object. "Go give him this, and tell him you're sorry." she told Jenny. "And tell him I don't appreciate him trying to ruin my front door." the desert aisha hurriedly accepted the object and scampered back to the doorr, opening it a crack and peering out before quietly slipping outside.  
  
"What was that?" Dr. Death inquired.  
  
"A snowberry tart." she said with an exhausted smile. "I can't tell you the number of times Jenny's managed to wake up that brute and he's come down here snorting and tearing up the mountain after her. I found out after coming home to him ravaging my kitchen one day after Jenny didn't shut the front door in time that he has a sweet tooth for them....so I use them as sort of a peace offering."  
  
"Mom, he's leaving..." Jenny said meekly, slipping back into the house. "Sorry...."  
  
"Jenny, have you fed that poogle yet today?" The aisha, realizing that she wasn't going to get in trouble any further, perked up instantly.  
  
"I'll do that right now!" she exclaimed, bounding off to find the infant poogle. Glitz bent over, picking up the two ice neggs that sat in a scattering of snow on the floor and carried them into the kitchen.   
  
"Well that was about as much fun as a poke in the eye." he remarked, laying them on the counter. "Sorry about the mess."  
  
"Its alright, dear. Snow melts away." the tigress assured him. "About when were you and Karma thinking of heading home?"   
  
"Home? Oh...I don't know...before the day is out, I guess." he shrugged, still panting a bit from running. "I really don't want to just run out on you after everything you did for us." he told her.   
  
"Well I'm sure you don't want to stay either." Staggpub pointed out, smiling a bit. "And I'm sure you need to get back to those who miss you. As I said, this is a service I would have done for anyone. I don't expect to keep you."  
  
"Well, yeah, but..." the techo tried to argue.  
  
"Good then its settled. You go change into some dry clothes, I'll give you each five hundred neopoints for your ferry ride home and to get something to eat when you get there." Staggpub interrupted. "And I want you two to promise me that you'll send your children up to visit me someday." Glitz's eyes went wide as Karma coughed wildly on the oatmeal that had crept down the wrong pipe when she had heard the tigress's offhand statement. No hinting, no beating around the bush, just flat-out there it was.   
  
"We...errmm...." he tried to speak, finding himself at a temporary loss for words.  
  
"YEARS from now, of course!" the tigress chuckled. Karma and Glitz both exchanged a sidelong glance, quietly saying that neither of them had been planning quite THAT far into the future. "But enough of that talk, I suppose." she continued, smiling warmly at the two of them as she lifted her cloak from the hook. "I'll be back."   
  
"Where're you going?" Karma asked.  
  
"To my safety deposit box." she replied, affixing the hood under her chin. "Need to pick up a few things and make a withdrawl from my funds to get you two home. I'll be back shortly."  
  
"I wanna go too, mom! So does Candy!" Jenny cried, scuttling to the door with the baby poogle over her shoulder.  
  
"You'd best not get too attached to that little one, Jenny. Our friends are going to need to take her with them when they go." she warned her aisha. Jenny looked crestfallen.  
  
"Actually, its not ours." Glitz offered. "It followed us out of the sewer pipe." Jenny immediately looked hopefully at her owner with pleading eyes. Staggpub remained firm, looking sternly back at her neopet and mouthing the word "No." The desert aisha looked crestfallen.   
  
"But yes, you two can come if you want. Go get your coat." Jenny, momentarily forgetting her disappointment, lit out of the room and down the hallway to find her jacket. She returned a moment later, Candy peeking out of the front of the zipper inquisitively. "Can we get ice cream?" she asked.  
  
"We'll see, Jen." Staggpub replied, opening the front door and waiting until her neopet had bounded out into the snowdrift before passing through it herself and closing it behind her. Instantly, the house seemed horribly empty without them and left Karma and Glitz with only one another for companionship.   
  
"Hi." he offered at last.  
  
"Hello." Karma replied, smiling a little.   
  
"How're you doing?"  
  
"I'm alright." she shrugged. "Are you? I mean....with what happened?"  
  
"Oh yeah, sure." he assured her, nodding. "It was probably long overdue anyway." He paused a bit. "Though I'd appreciate it if we kept it quiet. I get enough static as it is from Rose and it would sound so much better to say we narrowly got away from the jaws of death than to say we were off in some stranger's cabin bunking in the same bed."  
  
"Agreed." the frog nodded, laughing. "And I really don't think its going to sound all that great to say a petowner let hereslf be seduced by a neopet, you know?"  
  
"I didn't really look at it from that perspective." he remarked, cocking a brow. "The tabloids would have a field day, you're right."  
  
"Okay then, we'll both stay quiet." she offer.   
  
"Sounds good to me." he told her, taking a seat across from her at the table. Another long pause passed between them as Karma uneasily stirred the remnants of her oatmeal.  
  
"Did you mean what you said?" she asked him.   
  
"Huh?" he asked, looking up from staring blankly down at his hands.   
  
"Last night." she prodded gently.  
  
"Last night..." he repeated, trying to bring back the details. "Oh. OH!" he stumbled over himself, inwardly wincing at his lapse in memory. "Of course I meant it. Its just not an easy thing to say, Karma. Its not like I've had much experience in this kind of thing." She nodded, saying nothing. "Hey..." he said gently, reaching across the table and touching her wrist. "Once we get back and settled in, can I take you out somewhere?"  
  
"A date?" Karma asked, feeling stupid for asking.  
  
"May as well put a little tradition in it." he smiled. "I know it won't be the same without Sloth breathing down our necks and wading through the sewers..."  
  
"There ya go...the magic's been sucked straight out of our relationship." she snickered. "But yes, I'd love to if you don't mind the staring we're going to get."  
  
"I figure its a softer introduction to all of this than..well...the alternative." he smirked. She nodded in understanding. As though sharing the same wavelength of thought, they leaned across the table and shared a quick kiss.   
  
"What're you going to tell Rose?" Karma asked when they broke.   
  
"About us? She knows."  
  
"No, about where we've been."  
  
"She's going to draw her own conclusions no matter what I tell her." he shrugged. "Guess I'll cross that bridge when I come to it. No matter what I tell her, she's going to be all aflutter and making wedding plans and thinking this was all a huge ruse for us to have time alone." He scowled a bit.  
  
"Heh...that bad, huh?" Karma chuckled.   
  
"She's done it before..." he replied, a look of remembered exasperation crossing his face. "She was convinced for awhile that the new blumaroo delivery girl and I were going to be an item about a year ago...she even tried to set us up on a couple of dates."  
  
"What happened?" she asked, intrigued.  
  
"The blumaroo quit and transferred to Mystery Island."   
  
"Ouch."   
  
"Feh. She was a ditz anyway." he shrugged. "So what do you say? Home?"  
  
"Home." she agreed, picking up her empty oatmeal bowl and taking it to the sink to wash it out.  
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"Well....this is it, old pal..." Yahoo groaned, sprawled out on the floor. "I'm too weak to move...."  
  
"We've not eaten in forever...." Chomby grunted, splayed out not far from Yahoo on the carpeting.  
  
"Our owner abandoned us....Rose said she'd come back and never did....."  
  
"I can see a light, Yahoo...." Chomby whispered. "I think.....I think the angels have come.."  
  
"Its so beautiful...." the cybunny whispered, tears of joy stinging his eyes. "I go now to a better place....goodby---"  
  
"You can stop the melodrama now..." Rose sighed, emerging from the kitchen with a plate of waffles balanced on her hooves. "How much do you two *eat* anyway??" she asked, setting the plate down and watching as the cybunny and chomby sprang up from the carpet and galloped across the floor to gobble the food down. "Its a wonder Karma kept you in this place at all with all the food you go through..." her answer was muffled grunts and chewing. The uni sighed, sitting on the edge of the couch and slumping.   
  
She had run an ad for Yahoo and Chomby in the Neopian Times yesterday morning and had gotten dozens of takers almost instantly from interested owners who had been eager to get their hands on a limited edition pet. She was still running background checks on them all and so far hadn't been impressed with any of them. She supposed part of it was that a part of her still didn't want to believe Karma and Dr. Death were actually gone.   
  
The news article two mornings ago had shaken her horribly and she hadn't slept much at all....the heavy circles under her eyes showed that plainly enough. The mental images of a jumble of bones kept popping into her mind's eye...and, on its own, her brain had conjured up horrific details of the doctor struggling with one of the Haunted Woods' many terrors....the fight, the agony of his dying scream, the crunching as he was devoured....  
  
She shook her head violently to rid herself of those details. She didn't want to even entertain them right now. If he had been eaten, then there was precious little she could do about it except move on with herself. Yahoo and Chomby would be placed in a new home and she would next run an ad for a new coworker to replace the bloated walrus sitting in Dr. Death's seat right now. That was that.   
  
She jolted a bit at the sound of the front doorknob rattling and pricked her ears. Chomby and Yahoo continued to gorge themselves, apparently not noticing. Rose watched as the knob turned and the door nudged open and a familiar head poked hesitantly inside. It couldn't be....but there she was.  
  
"Guys?" Karma asked hesitantly, swinging her head in the direction of the shameless waffle feast taking place in the middle of the living room. The frog paused a moment, stunned, and then grinned broadly. "Yahoo! Chomby!!" she cried.   
  
"Eating. Go 'way." Yahoo muttered between mouthfuls, not comprehending anything other than the food in front of him.   
  
"You guys I've missed you so much!!" Karma exclaimed, diving between the two of them and seizing them both in a crushing hug.   
  
"Now what in the hell---" Yahoo began, and then caught an achingly familiar scent on the ominous being that had interrupted his breakfast. "Karma...?" he asked, his nose wriggling and sniffing wildly at her shoulder and upper arm. "KARMA!!!" he cried. "YOU'RE BACK!!!" The cybunny threw his head back over his shoulder at Rose. "She's back! Didn't I tell you she'd be back?!?" he asked jubiliantly asn Chomby blubbered in incoherant happiness and buried his face in Karma's shoulder.  
  
Rose found that she was trembling uncontrollably as she smiled broadly. If Karma was back then there might be a small chance....  
  
"Karma?" she asked hopefully. Karma looked up from hugging her two pets and looked at the uni with a breathless smile. "Did...umm...did the doctor...?"  
  
"We just got home." she informed the equine. "He said he needed to stop back off at his house, feed Snap, and get changed."  
  
"Oh thank god...!!" Rose sighed, nearly collapsing with relief, a few tears of relief slipping down her cheeks. "We all thought you two were dead...."  
  
"We almost could have obliged you there for a little while." Karma smiled. "Its a long story."  
  
"I'll probably end up hearing it from the doc when we go to work next...." she said, getting up and approaching the frog, giving her a brief hug before suddenly jolting. "Oh no! Snap's still here! Dr. Death's going to think he got stolen again!" she cried, looking frantically about the room for the doglefox. Not seeing him in the living room, she trotted in the direction of the bedroom, returning shortly with a very sleepy-looking Snap. "I'll be back soon." she told Karma. "And don't get me wrong, Karma, I'm so happy to see you again I just.....oh god, I've been through hell these past two days. Those stupid morons they have working in the police force declared him dead and---and---"  
  
"The doc's fine, Rose." Karma smiled. "And I'm pretty sure he's missed you too, whether or not he wants to admit it." she addded. The uni beamed at her before rushing out the door with Snap over her shoulder.  
  
"Karma, where were you??" Chomby asked, looking up at her with baleful eyes, his face a smear of butter and syrup from the waffle binge moments ago. "We were so worried!"  
  
"In a bad situation, Chomby." she told him, kissing his forehead. "Its alright now."  
  
"Yeah but where?" Yahoo pressed. "Why'd you leave us??"  
  
"I didn't get a choice, really, Yahoo. I was--"  
  
"Did you and the doc get married??" Chomby asked hurriedly.  
  
"No...actually we were..."  
  
"Did he run away from home and you went to look for him?" the dinosaur interrupted.  
  
"Will you shut up, stones-for-brains?? She's trying to explain!" Yahoo shot at the chomby, making him flinch a little.  
  
"Sorry, geez..." Chomby sulked.   
  
"Has Rose been taking care of you guys all this time?" Karma asked, noting that the apartment was cleaner than she had expected and that the only mess, really, was the scattering of waffle crumbs around the plate of breakfast the uni had set down for the two pets moments before.  
  
"Uh huh." Yahoo told her. "She's been droppin' by after work to make sure we had something to eat."  
  
"Oh wow...she didn't have to do that. And she took care of Snap too?" her pets both nodded. "Sounds like me and Glitz owe her one."  
  
"So c'mon! Where've you been??" Yahoo implored one more time.   
  
"Well, we got picked up by Sloth." she began.   
  
"Sloth? As in Doctor "I'm a jerk" Sloth?" Yahoo interrupted. Karma sighed, her irritation at being cut off constantly threatening to overcome her joy of being back with her neopets.  
  
"How about we get these waffles cleaned up and I'll tell you about it afterward?" she said, pointing at the partially-eaten pile of breakfast on the floor. "Guys, you couldn't have been THAT hungry. It looks like a starving wolverine went through that plate." Chomby blushed a little and Yahoo gave her a lopsided smirk.  
  
"Whaddaya want from us? Rose is a good cook." the cybunny told her, hopping out of her arms and lifting up the plate, faltering a little as he moved to carry it to the sink. Chomby hesitated a moment and then followed after him with Karma bringing up the rear, beginning for a fifth time to tell their story.  
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~  
  
Glitz paused on the front doorstep of his house and shifted the baby poogle's weight to his other shoulder as he paused in mid-reach for his pocket, realizing for the first time since he had gotten off of the ferryboat with Karma that his housekeys had been in the pocket of his labcoat when they had been captured. Oh well....unless a passing Zebba had mistaken it for a "shiny" and run off with it, he kept a spare key hidden on top of the frame of his side window in case of emergencies and now hopped off of the porch and crossed around to the side of the house to see about retrieving it.   
  
As he strained to reach the top of the windowframe without dropping the baby neopet, he was mindful of the fact that the jeans he wore were threatening to slide off as he stretched out. No sooner had his fingers brushed against the cold metal of the key and closed around it than there was the loud hiss of a window sliding open behind him.  
  
"Hey! Whaddaya think yer doin'??" a familiar voice demanded to know. In his arms, Candy gave a yelp of surprise.  
  
"I missed you too, Jespie." Dr. Death remarked, narrowing his eyes slightly.  
  
"You..." the tuskaninny said, his tone softening instantly. "They said you were dead on the news..." He no longer sounded aggressive, just quietly puzzled.  
  
"Sorry to disappoint all of you." the techo sighed, turning to walk back to his front door.   
  
"Where've you been anyway?" Jespie inquired, cocking a brow. "What were you trying to pull getting everybody to believe you were dead?"  
  
"I wasn't pulling anything." he replied. "And if they believed I was dead, then good for them. Maybe I'm a zombie."  
  
"Cute, doc. That's really cute. What? You didn't think you were getting enough attention? Or was this just some pathetic ploy to get people to stop hating you?" The old vehemency Glitz was used to began to creep back into the walrus neopet's voice. "And what the hell is that thing?" he asked, pointing at Candy.   
  
"That's a baby." he replied. "Keep your voice down." The chubby tuskaninny's eyes flew wide at this.  
  
"A baby?? What're you doing with a baby???" His eyes looked like they were about to pop straight out of his skull.  
  
"Its not mine. Its Karma's. She didn't want to spring it on her other pets just yet." He fitted the key into the lock and pulled open the door.  
  
"Who's Karma? What're you---" the door slammed shut, cutting him off in mid-question. Jespie paused, blinking dumbly for a moment before shaking his head and retreating back inside his window, closing it again. "Jerk." he muttered, meandering back into his den to see what was on TV.  
  
Inside, Glitz instantly headed for the back door, hoping Snap was alright as he tossed the key onto the bookcase as he passed it.   
  
"Snap?" he called, pulling open the door. The petpet did not rush to greet him and a sense of foreboding stole over him....had Snap starved with no one to care for him? He ducked back into the house, laying Candy gently on the couch, before hurrying back outside. "Snap? Snap where are you??" he called. No answer. "Not again..." he groaned, turning to hurry back into the house.   
  
"Here! He's here!" a breathless female voice called. He paused and turned to see Snap being held over the top of his backyard fence between a pair of hooves.   
  
"Rose?" he asked, breaking into a brisk run across the grass and all but slamming into the fence as he hoisted himself upward and peered over the top at the pink uni clutching the doglefox and grinning hugely.   
  
"You're alive!" she beamed, mouth hanging slightly open as she panted thickly, having run all the way here from Karma's apartment.  
  
"I'm alive." he smiled back. "Come around front, Rose." he told her. "This fence is jabbing me in the gut."   
  
"Oh! Of course!" she grinned foolishly, turning and running around the perimeter of the fence. He could hear her hooves clop hollowly against the pavement as he lowered himself down from his perch and hurried through the house to meet her. As he opened the front door, the doglefox was thrust into his arms, followed shortly by Rose all but flinging herself at him, hugging him tightly. "Oh doc, its been hell..." she whimpered. "You've gotta come back. I'm going crazy."  
  
"Why?" he asked, a little bewildered by the attention as he readjusted his grip on Snap while the doglefox wildly licked at his face. "Unless they replaced me, I'll be back tomorrow, Rose."   
  
"You're going to need to talk to the employment agency." she told him, her voice slightly muffled against his shoulder. "Everybody thinks you're dead."   
  
"So I hear....how'd they dig up that conclusion? Wishful thinking?" he asked, putting a hand on her shoulder and giving it a small squeeze before backing up and detaching the uni from him.   
  
"They found a pile of bones in the woods." she explained. "And they just assumed, I guess. You were gone and they found your ID tag."   
  
"Gonna need a new one of those too, I guess." he sighed, smirking a little. Rose, though she was glad to have him back, was a bit puzzled. He seemed much more tranquil than when she had last seen him....not ready to bite her head off at a moment's notice as he usually was.   
  
"Where did you and Karma go? What happened?" she asked. She gasped suddenly. "You two didn't get married, did you?"  
  
"Huh? No!" he exclaimed. "I know I don't have class, but I'd like to think I'd at least get to know her longer than a week first..."   
  
"Stranger things have happened." Rose smiled, broadly. "So what, then? Give."  
  
"Sloth." he told her. "He's sniffing back around Neopia, apparently, and we had the distinct honor of being his test subjects."  
  
"Oh no..." the uni gasped. He nodded quietly. "What did he do to you?"  
  
"Blasted us both with a ray....aside from screwing with my species and burning the hell out of Karma, it really had no effect." Rose nodded, though something in her eyes said she wasn't buying this story....and she was just waiting for him to tell her what REALLY happened. However, before he could confirm this, she looked past him at the baby yellow poogle who was peering over the end of the couch and seemed inordinately fascinated with his carpet.   
  
"A baby....!!" Rose declared, gasping. Dr. Death rolled his eyes, knowing that from here on out, she would hear nothing he said. Her greatest weakness, aside from chocolate truffles, was small children. He stumbled a bit as she hurried past him to the couch and scooped Candy into her arms, cuddling the little poogle close. "Doc, where'd you find such a little sweetie??" she asked, cooing and nuzzling the little poogle. Candy, apparently, enjoyed the attention and burbled happily in the uni's arms.   
  
"It found us." he shrugged. "One of Sloth's failed experiments. Actually, its going to be Karma's pet once we get things situated."  
  
"But this one's far too young to be given over as a pet!" Rose gasped. "If the police found out--"  
  
"After all we've been through this past week, Rose, the police is the last of my worries right now. And if they want to be petty enough to take Candy away from Karma, then that's their business. Its not as though either of us have an attachment to her. She followed us out of the sewer."   
  
"The sewer...?"  
  
"And how Staggpub knew that she had been a poogle at one point is beyond me....she looked like a decrepit mutant puppyblew..."  
  
"Staggpub? What....?" Rose's query was cut off by a sharp yap as Snap wriggled out of his owner's hands and landed neatly on the floor, running in excited circles.  
  
"Have you been taking care of him all this time?" he asked her.   
  
"Yeah." Rose nodded. "I couldn't just leave him in your backyard...he's been staying with Karma's pets and I've been taking care of them all." He smiled a little, clapping a hand on her shoulder.  
  
"Then I think I owe you one." he told her. Rose blinked bewilderedly, unconsciously tightening her grip on Candy a bit. This was was most definately not the Dr. Death she was used to. Snap, in his excitement, skidded sidelong into the bookcase, rattling it and showering himself in a scattering of softcover John Saul and Dean Koontz books he had collected over the years. The doglefox yipped and skittered away from the mess, jumping up onto the couch and instantly laying down, trying in a last-ditch effort to look innocent. "You up for dinner tonight?" he sighed, approaching the mess and kneeling to pick up the books.  
  
"Dinner...?" the uni asked warily.  
  
"Yeah. I don't think Karma would object. She owes you just as much as I do. Would give us all a chance to talk about what went down this past week and we'll pick up your tab, sound fair?"  
  
"I---sounds great!" Rose grinned. She made a mental note to mark this on her calendar when she got home as the first time the doctor had invited *her* anywhere, admidst all of the times she had offered him lunch or dinner in passing during their employment and he had refused  
  
"Great...pizza or hot dogs, Rose?" The uni paused a moment to think.  
  
"Pizza." she said tenatively.   
  
"Meet you there at six...for now, I hope you don't mind, but I really have to get things back in order." Saying so, he absently picked up the telephone and began to dial the number to the Employment Agency to ask about his job's current standing. Rose stood quietly for a moment, still cradling the poogle as she watched him stand by patiently until the other line was picked up and he began to speak with one of the agency's operators. Smiling, she gently laid the poogle infant back on the couch and left him to his business.   
  
As she let herself outside, she felt a rush of elation. The doctor was back, Karma was fine, and it seemed she was going to be able to tell Ms. Whorley exactly what she thought of having her as a co-worker before too much longer.  
  
Things were starting to look up, and about time too she thought to herself as she walked happily back to her own home.  
  
"No...no I'm not dead." Glitz sighed as the operator he spoke to continued to grill him. "No this isn't a prank call....look, I just want to know about my job status." he sighed.   
  
"Now listen, I'm getting tired of having to play referee to these jokes. They're in horribly poor taste and I don't care HOW disliked of a neopet he was, it still doesn't give you kids the right to play around like this!"  
  
"Did I just start talking Tyrannian or something and not know it?" he asked. "I AM Dr. Death, alright? I've been through a week of hell, I'm trying to get everything back in order and it would make it so much easier on both of us if you could just give me a yes or n---" there was a sharp click as the faerie he had been speaking to hung up on him. He paused for a moment, dumbfounded, before frustrated anger set in. "Son of a bitch...!" he hissed, tightening his grip on the reciever. He jolted a little as the sound of snapping plastic and crunching metal issued from his hand and the reciever fell from his palm in two pieces, hitting the carpet with a dull thud.  
  
He blinked, not exactly sure what had just happened. There was no possible way he possessed the strength to have crushed the phone...hell, he had barely able to break a pencil in the past. Seeing as how he had rendered his telephone useless anyway, he experimentally picked up the dialing pad and held it tightly between his hands, pressing inward. His muscles trembled, but nothing more. Not even a crack in the plastic casing. Whatever had possessed him a moment before was gone now.   
  
He turned to see both Snap and the baby poogle looking at him with curious expressions and he let his breath out in a long sigh, kneeling to pick up the remnants of the reciever. His mind drifted back to the lab ray and all of the times he had been zapped with "no effect". Maybe more had changed in him than they had thought, he mused. Just what he needed to cap things off, after all....some stereotypical rush of strength whenever his temper flared up. He guessed by the time his tax return came in, he'd turn green, tear out of whatever clothes he was wearing and start referring to himself as "Hulk".  
  
Oh well...he wasn't going to jump to conclusions just yet, he decided. Maybe it was a fluke...just maybe. Snap trotted up, tail wagging gently and snuffled at his fingers as he picked up the shards of plastic protruding from the carpet. The techo hesitated a moment before smiling faintly and roughly touseling the petpet's headfur.  
  
"You wanna go for pizza tonight, kid?" he asked the doglefox, remembering that he still had to inform Karma that they were going out. As though understanding, Snap pricked his large ears and his tail sped up a bit. He picked up the last of the crushed reciever and scanned the carpet for more...and not finding any, got up to throw the ones he held away. When he returned, he seated himself on the couch beside Candy. Snap instantly leapt up beside him, curling up and resting his head on the doctor's knee. "If I didn't know any better, I'd say you missed me." he told the doglefox. Snap gave a cursory thump of his tail against the back of the couch. He squinted, attempting to see the small digital clock on his radio.   
  
Almost three....that gave him plenty of time to get cleaned up and get to the store and find himself a new phone before he had to worry about meeting Rose and Karma. Not to mention to get into a set of clothes of his own, he thought as he looked distastefully down at the baggy clothing Staggpub had given him. He was fairly sure he looked like he had just crawled out from under a bridge....the looks people had given him when he had passed them on his way home had confirmed this...that or else maybe they had been trying to decide if they were seeing things or not. Just how farspread had the rumor gone about his death, anyway?  
  
He sighed, reaching out and picking up Candy before she could wriggle off of the edge of the couch. Oh well....whatever people had come to believe, it all boiled down to one thing: that he was planning on sticking around for awhile longer. And maybe people were going to have to rethink him before too much more time passed, he mused. After all....how many maniacs that enjoyed nothing more than the pain and torture of neopets turned up with a girlfriend and shared priorities on a infant?  
  
TBC.........  
  
((Yup more...)) 


	14. Old Ghosts

NOTE -- Allo, thought I died, didn'tcha? No I'm still kicking about...blah. Too much stuff going on this summer to be able to devote my time to the story like i used to. Guess you'll have to take the updates where I can make'em o.O;; Hope you continue to read and enjoy. I apologize in advance for the fact that this chapter kinda bumps in circles and doesn't go anywhere. I promise a bit more adventure in the next one.  
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~  
  
  
"Dad! Hey dad!!" SwT_CaNdY69 called, standing and fidgeting by the pound desk. The poogle was never one for patience. From where he stood, attempting to wrestle a large bag of NeoChow into the supplies closet for feeding time later that night, Dr. Death sighed and rolled his eyes.  
  
"I'm not your dad!" he called back irritatedly at the poogle. "And I'll be there in a minute!" The techo strained, heaving the sack of kibble a few more inches across the floor.  
  
"What a wuss..." a green skeith snickered from its kennel, watching the doctor struggle.  
  
"No kidding..." a yellow pteri agreed, grinning. Dr. Death ignored them, heaving again. The bag slid the rest of the way into the closet and he gratefully allowed it to sag against the wall, panting. When he had caught his breath again, he slipped out of the closet and closed the door, returning to the front where the yellow poogle was perched on the floor looking plaintively at him.   
  
"Alright, what?" he asked. "Why aren't you with Karma?"  
  
"Mom's taking a nap." Candy informed him. Being that she had been so young when she had come into Karma's care, and that the techo and frog had spent so much time together the first few weeks of her life, as soon as she had been able to comprehend, Candy had taken to referring to Karma as "mom" and Glitz as "dad". If it bothered Karma, she never had said anything about it, but the poogle referring to him as her father really irked Glitz...especially when he found himself having to explain the situation to inquiring minds. "'Sides, I wanted to come see you."  
  
"She doesn't like you running off. Why weren't Yahoo and Chomby watching you?" he asked, taking his place behind the desk. Rose had not yet returned from her lunch break, but was due back any time. He winced as Candy scrambled into his lap and grinned at him.   
  
"They're too busy with their new video games. And I like it here. There's some nutty people who come in here with their pets." she said reasonably.   
  
"Its hard for me to look professional with a little girl crawling all over me, you realize." he told her in exasperation as he picked her up and gently set her back on the floor. Candy pouted a bit.   
  
"Why don't you ever bring Snap to work?" she asked.  
  
"He's not allowed in here. It looks unprofessional." the techo answered disinterestedly, picking up a pen to write up a reminder to himself to pick up a gross of neomite vaccinations to be administered before the week was over.   
  
"Says who?" the poogle demanded.  
  
"Says the faeries. Now go on home." he told her, waving a hand at her dismissively as he wrote with his other. Candy crossed her stout arms over her chest.   
  
"I don't have to." she told him. "Yer not my real dad." He sighed...that was another thing. He only upheld the title of "dad" to her when it was convenient. Anytime he tried to assert any sort of authority over her, she temporarily disowned him. Troublesome girl.   
  
"Someone's going to come in here and if they see you running around without your owner, they're going to drag you off and make you into a battledome pet." He told her, trying a different tactic. Candy looked skeptical.   
  
"Nooo..." she smirked, trying to get him to admit that he was teasing. He remained stone-featured.   
  
"I'm dead serious. You think half these hogs would care that you belong to somebody else? No...you're a rare pet, you're hanging around the pound, and as far as they're concerned you're fair game."   
  
"No I'm not!!" the yellow poogle protested. "I hate the battledome! Stop saying that!"  
  
"Then stop giving me a hard time and go home." he told her. "I'm busy here."   
  
"You're mean!!" the poogle declared, turning on her heel and fleeing the pound office, nearly bowling Rose over as she opened the front door.  
  
"Heavens to Betsy!" the uni declared as Candy shoved past, galloping off out of sight. "What was that all about?"  
  
"She snuck away from home again." the doctor replied, sighing. "Never a dull moment."  
  
"Aww, think of it this way...she's good practice."  
  
"Practice? Feh...if you're implying that I'd ever be a parent, Rose---"  
  
"Oh I'm not implying anything." the red uni smiled sweetly. "And you really ought to be a little nicer to her....she DOES think the world of you." The techo said nothing to this, folding the reminder to himself in half and setting it on top of the Incoming basket before he cast a look at the clock.  
  
"Is that thing broken or something?" he grumbled, noting that it was only just now becoming noon.   
  
"I'm afraid its just one of those days, doc." Rose shrugged. "Have plans today?  
  
"No...just want to go home." he sighed. "Didn't get enough sleep last night."  
  
"Karma spend the night again?" Rose asked, smirking knowingly.  
  
"No." he snapped defensively, irritated by her one-tracked train of thought whenever he and Karma were mentioned in the same sentence. Was it possible to spend time with his girlfriend without the rest of Neopia assuming they were off pounding each other senseless constantly?   
  
"Then my next guess is that computer you got yourself." the uni replied. He quickly averted his eyes to the desktop. "Get lost on the internet?"  
  
"Stonekeep." he replied. Rose cocked a brow.  
  
"Never heard of it."  
  
"It came highly recommended from Karma....so I ordered it on import from earth. The shipping cost was awful, but its a good way to pass time." he shrugged.  
  
"Or obsess over and lose sleep?"  
  
"That too. I've got shargas etched on the insides of my eyelids, I think..." he grunted, shoving away from the desk and standing. "And on that note, I'm out of here for an hour." he added, stretching. Rose offered a cursory wave before disappearing into the back to run a routine check of the adoptees.  
  
The techo unshouldered his labcoat and hung it on the hook by the door before venturing outside. He had found it made him a little less conspicious to onlookers which, given he was still harrassed at least once a day about "coming back from the dead because he wasn't done harrassing Neopia", was a welcome blessing. He passed through the front door, pausing on the top step a moment to breathe in the summer air.   
  
"Hi dad!" He flinched and turned to see Candy standing near the stairs, clutching a peach ice cream cone that was quickly melting in the noonday heat and drizzling down her paws in pink dribbles.  
  
"Stop calling me that...and you're making a mess." he pointed out. The poogle looked down at her paws and hurriedly ran her tongue over them to lick the ice cream away. "Why haven't you gone home?"  
  
"Mom said I could come back." she fibbed.   
  
"You lie like a rug." he sighed. "Look, Karma's going to be worried about you."  
  
"Not as long as I stay with you." she replied angelically. Glitz growled when he realized he had been trapped. What irked him the most was he really should have seen it coming and he hadn't. "So where're we going?" she asked, bounding up beside him and latching onto his tail.  
  
"*I* am going to get lunch. *You* are going back home and I'm taking you there." he told her, flicking his tail out of her grasp. Candy paused, scowling at him as he looked over his shoulder at her. "What?"  
  
"I don't wanna go home!" she said, stamping her foot stubbornly.   
  
"Candy..." he said warningly.  
  
"I wanna stay with you, Dad!!" she said loudly, making a few passersby stop and look confusedly at the young poogle and the poundkeeper. A pair of usuls whispered to one another, looking amusedly at the duo as they passed by and Dr. Death felt his face flush as he seized the poogle by her arm and dragged her out of the public eye before releasing her again.  
  
"Look, stop embarrassing me." he said softly, crouching so that he was on an eye-to-eye level with her. "Maybe your mom lets you get away with that, but I'm not---" He stopped abruptly as Candy leaned forward and kissed him on the nose, smiling at him.   
  
"I love you Daddy." she said in a most winning tone of voice. The techo, try as he might, was unable to hold onto his anger and sighed in resignation as he stood again.  
  
"Fine. You can stay. But one more outburst like that, and you're out of here."  
  
"Kay." the poogle replied. It wasn't the first time she had had an argument like this with him and won using similar methods. She could read him like an open book, whether he wanted to admit it or not, and the pages of that book said that this would be a trick of hers that would work for a long time to come. "So where're we going?" she asked again, following behind him as they began to walk again.  
  
"Hubert's." he told her. "Same place I always go."  
  
"Blech....hot dogs are oogy." Candy said matter-of-factly.  
  
"Is that so..." he muttered disinterestedly. "Why do you think so?"  
  
"I think...." she began, trailing off, and then seized his tail again. "Can I dye my hair red when I get older?" she asked, on a completely different train of thought suddenly.   
  
"Sure." he replied. "Want to run off and join the circus too?" He walked quietly with her for a few moments, ignoring the questioning looks from various people they passed. He knew it was only a matter of time before SOMEONE approached him about this "daughter" of his or some rag article author from the Neopian Times wrote a big juicy story about it. Feh...let them. It seemed like most of Neopia wasn't happy unless they had their nose in someone else's business.  
  
"HEY!! GIMME!!!" Candy cried suddenly. The doctor whirled to see the young poogle engaged in a tug-of-war over her ice cream with a blue demon-like creature. It grinned mockingly at her, its tongue lulling out as it continued to hold tight to the frozen treat. At length, apparently growing weary of the struggle, the creature extended a tendril of itself and tickled Candy's nose with it. The poogle twitched, and then sneezed loudly, accidentally releasing her grip on her ice cream.  
  
"GOTCHA!!" the creature cackled, blowing a loud raspberry at her before zipping away and out of sight. Candy sat up, glaring icily at where he had gone.  
  
"YOU JERK!!" she shrieked. "BUY YOUR OWN ICE CREAM!!!!!" Her lip trembled as her anger gave way to outrage and tears began to spill down her face. The yellow techo rolled his eyes and knelt next to her.   
  
"Was that your first run-in with the pant devil?" he asked. The poogle sniffled and nodded.  
  
"I'll get him back." she growled determinedly. "I'll tear him apart!"  
  
"Better men than you have tried." Glitz told her. "He's just one of those things that makes Neopia bad from time to time....just be glad it was only your ice cream."  
  
"No! C'mon!" she ordered, storming off. Dr. Death watched her a moment before sighing.   
  
"Alright, humor me, what are you up to?" he asked, getting up and catching up to her with a few quick strides.   
  
"I'm going to the battledome! Duh!" she snapped. The doctor's stomach did a sour flip. Not only was he fairly sure Candy didn't stand a chance against the Pant Devl, but he hadn't been to the battledome since he had been a baby.....and for good reason.  
  
"Look, I'll buy you a new ice cream." he told her, trying to appeal to her. "Hell, I'll buy you a plushie to go with the ice cream."  
  
"Nope." Candy replied, continuing to walk.   
  
"Fine. Then I'm doing what I should have done in the first place." he growled, turning abruptly and walking away, back in the direction of Hubert's. Candy paused, looking over her shoulder at him. "You want to go get trampled, fine. I'm not responsible for you, Candy, and as far as I'm concerned I never even saw you today."  
  
"I'll tell mom you did." she replied. "She'll be mad at you."  
  
"Karma knows how I feel about playing keeper to you when she's not around." Glitz shot back. The poogle narrowed her eyes.   
  
"We'll just see about that." she replied cryptically, whirling on her heel and continuing to stalk off in the direction of the battledome.   
  
"Got some troubles on the homefront?" Hubert asked, having watched the exchange between the doctor and Candy a moment ago as the techo approached the counter.  
  
"No." he replied. "Just a troublesome upstart." The mynci nodded, grabbing a bun and fishing a hot dog out of the vat with a pair of tongs.   
  
"What'll it be today?" Hubert inquired.  
  
"I don't care. Surprise me." the techo shrugged. "As long as there's no anthrax in it."  
  
"Spoil my fun..." Hubert smirked, spooning on some relish and onions. "She's off to lock horns with the pant devil, huh?"  
  
"She's going to get her rear kicked." the doctor corrected. "And its the only way she'll learn."  
  
"Eh, I dunno. I've heard a few people say the pant devil's a pushover in the battledome. It just depends on how you go after him." The mynci offered. "And you're not going with her?"  
  
"I don't want to." he muttered.   
  
"What if she gets hurt?" he asked, cocking a brow at the techo.  
  
"That's her problem. They have an on-staff first aid team."  
  
"Uh huh..." Hubert sighed doubtfully. Glitz fidgeted, no longer sure of his decision as he waited for his lunch to be finished. As much as he hated the battledome and all that had happened to him in it, his mind kept churning up mental pictures of Candy, badly beaten, lying in the dust as he once had. Some of the battledomers would be more apt to jump into the ring and start another battle right on top of her than they would be to wait until the first aid team could get to her.   
  
"Dammit..." he hissed. Hubert blinked and looked up as he stirred the small vat of chili with its metal ladel.  
  
"Huh?"  
  
"I'll be back in a minute." he sighed in defeat, stuffing his hands into the pockets of his pants and moving off in the direction Candy had gone. Hubert shook his head and smirked, wrapping the hot dog up in wax paper and putting it under the counter for the moment.  
  
Dr. Death walked in silence, wanting to get things over and done with as soon as possible. From where he was, even now, he could see the behemoth hulking sillohuette of the battledome and it made him shudder. Since he had been young, the dome had grown dramatically in size as more neopians had taken up an interest in battling either one another or the evils of Neopia that had offered to challenge the citizens.  
  
The techo averted his eyes to the sidewalk, ignoring the flutters of insecurity battering at the walls of his stomach. There was nothing to be afraid of....nobody was going to put him on the spot about battling, and nobody, certainly, was going to recognize him as a former pet of someone who was virtually obsessed with the place. He would go in, get Candy, and leave...as simple as that. He drew nearer to the battledome, almost certain he could hear the grunts of those battling and the clang of their weapons as they fought for title of champion. In his pockets, his hands had gone clammy and were rhythmically clenching and unclenching.  
  
"Can I help you?" a portly skeith sitting at the guard booth of the dome inquired as the doctor neared.  
  
"I'm here to get someone." he told the guard.  
  
"Mmhmm...you and everybody else here, sweets." the skeith grunted, taking out a clipboard. "Who're you battling?"  
  
"Nobody." the doctor pressed as the guard favored him with an odd look. "I told you, I'm here to get somebody."  
  
"Ohhh....a pickup." he grinned. "I getcha now. Lemme guess, one of your kids is trying to prove their weight in salt by taking on the Snowager, right?"  
  
"One of my friend's pets..." he replied, realizing he was stalling. "Where do I go?" he asked, clearing his throat.  
  
"Well, now, most people just go and wait in the bleachers till the fight's over....you could wait in the locker room if you want, but we get complaints from patrons that sometimes they end up getting challenged."  
  
"You can back down from a challenge." the techo snorted.  
  
"Hey, I'm just tellin' ya, buddy." the guard said, putting a paw up defensively. "At any rate, good luck to your friend in there."   
  
"Thanks." he said absently as he forced himself away from the guard booth and into the front doors. Almost immediately he was swept up with a wave of unwelcome nostalgia. The front hallway was cool and quiet, smelling faintly of antiseptic and sawdust....and instantly his mind brought forth the memories of being a very young techo, cowering behind his master's ankles as he waited in this same hallway for his turn to battle. Usually it was crowded with spectators and people waiting their turn in the ring, but today it was deserted....still too early in the day to draw a crowd since most pets were still in school or sleeping late.  
  
He took a deep breath and held it as he kept moving, mindful of the fact that his brow had broken into a cold sweat. It occurred to him that, at that moment, he would have rather been anywhere but here again. Even back in Sloth's laboratory...hell, the sewer BENEATH the laboratory.... was more appealing than this. As he stood, torn between bolting back out the door and pressing onward, a door banged open and a disheveled-looking shoyru stumbled into the hallway, his weapons--or what remained of them--with him.  
  
"Piece of JUNK!!" he roared, seizing up what looked like a sword with a carrot instead of a blade and throwing it on the ground. The point had broken off, likely in his previous battle, making it basically worthless in the battledome. The doctor recognized it as an item Fyora sold exclusively in her tower. Whoever the dragon neopet had gone up against must have packed a lot of punch behind them to break one of the Faerie Queen's weapons. "What're you staring at??" the shoyru demanded, noticing Glitz watching him.   
  
"Oh...nothing." he shrugged. The shoyru narrowed his eyes.   
  
"You'd better hope so." the neopet growled. "Balthazaar may have kicked my butt, but that doesn't mean YOU can." The doctor felt his mouth drop a little. Balthazaar? The shoyru was little more than a child and it was trying to take on one of Neopia's legendary badmen? Before he had time to ponder on this, the neopet had stormed off angrily, leaving the broken carrotblade behind. He hesitated a moment to see if the shoyru would come back for it...and when he didn't, the techo moved forward and picked the broken weapon up.  
  
It was kind of funny, it occurred to him, that this would likely be the only time he'd ever hold a Hidden Tower artifact in his hands and he couldn't really even do anything with it. Oh well. He held onto it as he ducked into the door the shoyru had come out of. The locker room was mostly abandoned. Sitting on the bench against the wall, a young kacheek sniffled and held an ice pack against his eye where he had been punched by his earlier opponant and beside him, a red kyrii posed and flexed in front of a slightly dingy mirror.  
  
Not seeing Candy, he turned and left the locker room, moving to the other end of the front hallway, opening the door that led into the seating rows of the dome for spectators and those waiting their turn in the center ring. As his hand touched the knob, another surge of bad memories flooded him. The stinging shame of collapsing in the dust and knowing he didn't have the strength to get up and try again, the disappointed cry of his owner, the smugness of the winner....  
  
He bit his tongue, noting that his hands were shaking almost beyond the point of control. No...he wasn't going to make a scene. He was here to make sure Candy didn't get herself killed and that was it. Nobody, short of hog-tying him and throwing him into the ring, was going to get him to have any part of the battle arena itself. Feeling slightly better, he released his hold on the door and sidled into a nearby row of bleachers to observe.  
  
Down below, a battle was currently raging between a green lenny and Kauvara. Though the Lenny was equipped with several expensive weapons, the kau sorceress was clearly more than a match for him as she leapt to the side, avoiding a lightning beam attack.   
  
"Keep trying! That one only missed by TWO miles this time!" she laughed. The lenny growled in agitation and whipped out an attack fork, flying at her with it with a rasping shriek. Kauvara sidestepped daintily, sending the bird careening into the dust. "Now then....if you're quite done..." she sighed, closing her eyes and summoning a glowing orb of energy that crackled over her head a moment before darting forward and enveloping her challenger.   
  
With a loud BZZAP, the lenny laid still in the dirt, staring vacantly up at the sky.  
  
"TOTAL K.O.!! KAUVARA WINS!!!" someone announced over the loudspeaker. There were scattered applause from those who had watched the fight and and undertow of boo's from the Lenny's owner and friends. Never the less, Kauvara executed a sweeping bow before trotting out of the ring, head held high. "CHALLENGERS 95 AND 107 TO THE RING, PLEASE." the voice ordered as two blue pteris swooped into the arena, picking the unconscious lenny up by his shoulders and hefting him to a safe distance.   
  
No sooner had they gotten him out of the center ring, than an incredibly large and muscular scorchio lumbered in, its eyes narrowed and its lips pulled back in a viscious, bloodthirsty snarl. Its opponent, a mean-looking, but not nearly as strong, Grarrl stormed in as well, taking its place across the ring from the behemoth scorchio. The doctor frowned, wondering if Candy had already battled. Not likely, he decided...even in non-peak hours, she would have at least ten people ahead of her.  
  
"Make me proud, Fangpoint!" someone cried. The techo involuntarily flinched and felt a sudden wave of nausea at the sound of the voice. Just as quickly as it took him to wonder why, he knew....the voice was painfully familiar and one he had tried to forget for years. After a long moment of mental debate, he forced himself to look up, scanning the bleachers around him for its source.   
  
For one blessed moment, Glitz thought he had been mistaken. But then, as though guided by an inner homing device, his eyes settled on a human man that was watching the two pets in the ring intently, absently petting a red kougra cub beside him. His hair, a dirty blonde color, had grown long enough to pull back into a bobbed ponytail, and his face, though lined with the first signs of age, was recognizable enough.   
  
Joey.   
  
The techo quickly looked away again, clenching his eyes shut and the sick feeling intensifying itself. What were the odds, he wondered? What were the god damned odds that they'd both show up at the same place at the same time after all of these years? His throat clenched and he gagged, getting up hurriedly and excusing himself.   
  
He didn't quite make it to the restroom and doubled over, his stomach fluttering and heaving as it expelled its contents. When the last of the nausea had passed, he coughed dryly and clutched blindly for something to lean against, eventually finding the smooth concrete of the wall as he pulled himself back into a fully upright position and pressed the fevered skin of his forehead against the cool cement.   
  
"You alright, there?" someone inquired. He didn't look to see who it was, but nodded faintly. "Hey can we get a janitor over here??" the voice called. "Some guy just yacked all over the floor!" Lovely way of putting it....  
  
Glitz panted thickly, regaining his composure before carefully easing away from the wall and walking quietly out of the dome again. Of all of the things he had been prepared for, seeing his former owner again hadn't been one of them. Candy momentarily forgotten, he moved to an unoccupied bench in the front hallway and seated himself on it, resting his head on his hands as he collected his scattered wits.   
  
All of the insecurities that had haunted him only briefly these days in his sleep came flaring back again and made him feel incredibly small. Rejection, humiliation, remorse...all of it without any closure. Knowing Joey still was in Neopia hadn't helped things much. Actually SEEING him again--hearing his voice--that was enough to drive him off the deep end.  
  
"Geez, dad!!" The techo's head darted up, startled. Candy stood before him, busily eating a bag of pear drops. "You look all sick! Are you okay??"   
  
"Candy...where've you been?" he asked. She shrugged.  
  
"I got here, there was a line and I didn't feel like waiting...so I went to the chocolate factory instead." the baby poogle remarked. "I got you a chocolate cybunny. Ya want it?"  
  
"No..." he sighed, standing slowly and stumbling a bit. Candy quirked a brow skeptically.  
  
"You should go home and bundle up. That's what mommy made me do when I got Ugga Ugga."   
  
"I'm not sick." he told her sternly. "And if I go home, you're going to run amuck all over the place."  
  
"I will not!" she said defensively.  
  
"I don't want to argue with you." he sighed, leaning down and picking her up before she could scamper out of reach. The poogle struggled a bit, but grudgingly surrendered, allowing herself to be carried.   
  
"Where're we going?"she asked sullenly.  
  
"You're going home. I'm going back to work." he informed her. "And you can whine all you want about it. I'm not in the mood, Candy." Candy opened her mouth to argue, but quieted herself again, deciding that something had obviously shaken him and that it was something she didn't really want to contend with. For the rest of the journey, there was silence between them as the doctor padded up the staircase to Karma's apartment and down the hallway.   
  
Karma answered almost immediately after he knocked at the door and smiled faintly, looking like she hadn't been awake for very long.  
  
"Was she giving you trouble again?" the frog asked, looking lightly concerned as she reached out to take the young poogle from her significant other.   
  
"Eh." he shrugged, reluctant to say more. Karma's expression fell a little as she noted the hollow look in his eyes.  
  
"You alright, Glitz?" she asked.  
  
"I'm fine." he answered.  
  
"You don't look fine." she countered. "Something happen?"  
  
"I just....no, I'm fine." he faltered, shifting his weight a little and getting poked by the carrot blade he had, at some point, shoved halfway into his pants pocket. He withdrew it and handed it to Candy. Her eyes widened, despite the fact the weapon was broken, and she grinned as she swung her new toy in the air.   
  
"HA! Try and take THIS, Pant Devil!" she declared loudly, making her owner give her a thin smile before setting the poogle down, allowing her to gallop off to show her prize to Yahoo and Chomby as she turned her attention back to the haggard-looking doctor.   
  
"You want to come in and lay down for awhile?" she asked, stepping aside slightly. "You look exhausted." The invitation was tempting because he did, in fact, feel utterly drained, but at length he forced himself to shake his head.  
  
"No..." he sighed. "I need to get back to work." She paused, and then nodded in understanding.   
  
"Come by after your shift?" she whispered, moving close and nuzzling his cheek affectionately.  
  
"I'll try." he said non-committedly. It wasn't that he didn't want to be around her, really, but he knew that she had questions...and questions, honestly, were the last thing he was in the mood for. He gave her a quick peck on the forehead and turned to leave.  
  
"Love you." she called after him. He didn't reply, already lost in mental turmoil as he disappeared down the stairs. She looked after him with mild worry before she closed the door again. Something had clearly shaken him up quite badly, and the fact he didn't want to tell her what it was bothered her all that much more because it meant that he felt she wouldn't be able to help with it even if she knew what it was.  
  
Karma decided to push it out of hand for the moment. He'd taken care of himself just fine long before she had ever met him and whatever this was, he'd either sort it out himself or tell her about it when he was ready. It just wasn't worth the mental energy it would take to wheedle it out of him.  
  
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~  
  
As things had turned out, Dr. Death hadn't gone to Karma's after work had ended and had, instead, gone directly home with every intention of going to bed and putting the entire day to rest. Instead, however, he found himself sitting at his computer, engaged in a game of Stonekeep. Behind him, Snap slept peacefully at the foot of the chair, his ears cocked and waiting for the telltale sound of his owner clicking off the computer and going through the motions of getting up.  
  
He eased his player around a corner, unsurprised to see a set of burly throgs waiting for him as the pixelated battle was engaged. Glitz killed them all easily, moving Drake further down the corridor. Dragon Feeding Grounds, feh....he'd been all over the damned level and hadn't seen a single dragon yet. The tiredness he had felt all the way home began to prickle at him again and he decided he'd have to save his game and come back to it later as he looked for a good vantage point to do so from.  
  
A loopy throg shaman, attracted by Drake's presense, suddenly darted out of the shadows and galloped up to the screen. "Oh, by Throggi...strangers to abuse me! Great Throggi, I exist ONLY to be abused...well, then....ABUSE ME, I SAY!!!" it declared in a nasal and hopeless-sounding voice. Despite his current frame of mind, he chuckled wryly before saving and turning the game off.  
  
His mind, for the hundredth time that day, turned back to Joey. Where did he go from here, he wondered? He had a strong feeling Rose and Karma would tell him to let the past stay in the past and he would only hurt himself trying to dig open his old wounds. But there were things he had wanted to say to his former owner that had needled at him for years. The thought of knowing that Joey was still skulking around and having to bite his tongue made him feel cheated and dirty.  
  
The boy had obviously done well for himself over the years and reached his goal of becoming a battledome star. It just didn't seem fair that he should get off scot free with a happy ending while sending one of his former pets through hell and back. He sighed heavily, collapsing to the bed's mattress on his back and listening to the computer go through its shutdown ritual. The bed jostled as Snap hopped up beside him, curling up against his side and yawning widely.  
  
He gently pet the doglefox's fur, thinking heavily. Would it really solve anything if he were to go and confront Joey about all of this? Despite his wanting to, there wasn't much the boy could tell him after all these years except "my bad, sorry" no matter how much he appealed to him and made him feel like a jerk for running out on him when he was a baby.   
  
What was he hoping for anyway? He had plenty of things of his own to worry about now -- a relationship, what could be called the startings of a family, a few friends, a house -- was he hoping there'd be an offchance Joey would want to take him back after all of this? He didn't know...but the more he thought about it, the more he thought it would be worth his time to pay his former owner a visit.   
  
It didn't have to be a nasty encounter, he promised himself. He'd say hello, lay the cards out on the table for Joey about the tailspin his life had been in for so long and toss him a few questions, and if the human wanted to kick things up a notch and get angry with him, he'd cross that bridge when he came to it.   
  
He took in a deep breath and let it out again slowly, making his mind up. He'd tell Karma about it if she asked, but he was going to go find Joey and he promised himself he wouldn't be talked out of it. It was something he wanted--no, NEEDED to get done and out of the way. Maybe then he could stop beating this dead horse and let it rest in peace.  
  
As he lay pondering the possible outcomes of a conversation with his ex-owner all these years later, the phone rang shrilly on the bedside table. He picked it up on the second ring and pressed it against his head, already fairly sure of who it was.  
  
"Hello?"  
  
"There you are....are you okay?" Karma's voice filtered through the reciever.   
  
"I'm better than I was, I guess." he shrugged, speaking in a near-monotone.  
  
"Alright, well, that's better than nothing...." she sighed.  
  
"What's wrong?" he asked her, perturbed by the exasperation in her voice.  
  
"I think I'm more entitled to ask that than you are." the frog countered. "You looked like you had just gotten done puking your guts out when I saw you earlier today."  
  
"Well...if the shoe fits..." the techo muttered. Karma's tone softened almost instantly.  
  
"Are you sick?" she asked, concerned.  
  
"No...just...." he fished for a way to flower everything over and failed. "I had a run-in with someone I wish I hadn't today. It kind of knocked me for a loop."  
  
"Want to talk about it?" she offered.  
  
"I'll come over." he told her. "I don't wanna talk about this over the phone."  
  
"What's wrong with the phone?"  
  
"Eh. I get the feeling you're going to get irked at me at some point while I'm explaining, and I much prefer getting slapped over being hung up on." There was a puzzled silence on the other line for a moment.  
  
"Alright." she said hesitantly.   
  
"Its not you, okay?" he told her, guessing at her biggest worry. "This has nothing to do with you. You and me are fine." Apparently he had hit the nail directly on the head because she gave a muted sigh of relief. "I'll see you soon." he informed her.  
  
"Have you eaten yet? I could heat something up for you on your way over..." No, he hadn't eaten yet, but nor was he hungry at the moment. His stomach still felt a bit fluttery from vomiting earlier.  
  
"I'm alright, thanks though. I'll be over in a few."  
  
"Alright, bye." And with a click, she was gone. Dr. Death laid the phone on its cradle and hesitated a moment before sitting up, giving Snap a skritch in passing. The doglefox lifted its head lazily and looked up at him.  
  
"Hold down the fort for me, kid. I'll be back soon." he informed his petpet absently as he left the room. A moment later, there was the sound of the front door opening and closing again. Snap gave a disinterested whurf and laid his head back on his front paws, his button-like eyes slipping closed again as he resumed his nap. He had sensed a bit of upset in his owner, but nothing that really seemed to set his fur on edge. Whatever it was, it wasn't *his* problem, after all.  
  
  
TBC....... 


	15. Setting the Gears In Motion

AUTHOR'S NOTE -- Admittantly, I'm starting to run out of steam on this story and I am trying to get several Real Life things in order right now...namely, finding myself a new job. I promise I'll finish this thing, but guys, leaving snarky reviews demanding to know why I've not worked on the story and demanding a new chapter is really not influencing whether I sit down and work or not....and truthfully it kind of hurts my feelings to feel like you're all calling me lazy when fanfiction really isn't a top priority of mine at the moment. I'm flattered I've drawn you in with this tale to the point that you'd get angry that it didn't update, but the IM's, EMails, and reviews all asking "WHEN WILL YOU UPDATE??" are really starting to get to me -_- My material for the Times has to eat up my priorities first and by the time I get that finished, I find I really have very little free time to do other neopet-related things. But as I said, I will finish this eventually.  
  
Anyway, unpleasantness aside, here's the new part.   
  
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It took a lot of convincing, but eventually Glitz had managed to get Karma to lower her defenses as he explained his situation, beginning by going into a bit more detail about his first abandonment and finishing with his encounter at the battledome that afternoon. Though she had argued in the beginning, she eventually was able to simply listen, allowing him to tell his story. By the time he had finished, she had changed her mind about what she planned to give him as her final say on the matter, originally planning to tell him that poking back into Joey's life would cause more upset than good for both of them.   
  
"I know it sounds selfish." he sighed, lying on his back, his head pillowed on Karma's lap. "Hell, he probably doesn't even remember me after all this time, but its just one of those things I need to do."  
  
"Need to?" she pressed. He shot her a shifty look out of the corner of one eye.  
  
"Alright, WANT to, I guess." he sighed. "Either way, I've already thought it through and I think the worst he can do is tell me to get lost."  
  
"Or call the police and say you were trespassing." she pointed out.   
  
"He's not going to call the police." he grumbled. "Not after the high-handed battledome champion title he's made out for himself. He'd let his pets deal with me...but I'm not going to let things get that far, Karma. If it starts to get ugly, I'll leave."  
  
"I almost want to say that I should go with you..." she began, making him cringe slightly and get ready to tell her no. However, a loud crash from the kitchen saved him the trouble.  
  
"Chomby did it!" Yahoo's voice filtered out.  
  
"Nuh UH!!" the dinosaur argued loudly. Karma set her jaw and rolled her eyes.  
  
"...and then I remember that I'm supposed to be playing petkeeper for Beezlebub and his minions." she finished with a sigh. In spite of himself, Glitz laughed softly. She leaned forward, touching noses with him. "I should go see what that was." she smiled, giving him a soft kiss. He took that as his cue to sit up so that he was no longer pinning her legs to the couch and allowed her to saunter into the kitchen where a verbal confrontation almost instantly began over a destroyed casserole dish.  
  
He listened with bemused interest as Karma attempted to sort it out, and then turned his thoughts to where he planned to go from where he was. He had no idea where Joey lived, for one. For another, he didn't know what sorts of strings he'd have to pull to get at his former owner who, undoubtably, had bodyguards or at least burly and protective pets.  
  
Maybe the information center would have an idea. He looked up as Yahoo and Chomby zipped out of the kitchen, diving into the den for cover. "And stay out!" Karma called after them. "Next time you want dinner, just ask me!" This was followed by the whisper of a broom against the kitchen's linoleum and the faint tinkle of glass shards being swept together.  
  
"You want some help in there?" he called from the couch.  
  
"I'm fine." she called back, sounding tired. It must be hard on her, he thought, to deal with three neopets in a newbie apartment. You couldn't walk five steps without crossing into another room and while it had been fine for her and Yahoo, adding Chomby and Candy to the mixture had made everything rather cramped.  
  
"Have you looked into getting your neohome built yet?" he asked, deciding he may as well find out where that particular problem stood. He'd been badgering her on and off about it for the past couple of weeks. Now that Candy was getting bigger, she simply needed more space. The only reason the manager of the apartments tolerated her still living there was because she was never late with her rent and managed to get everybody to shut up and go to sleep by nine every night.  
  
"I want to...I just can't afford it this month." she replied. There was more sweeping followed by a dull kerchunk as she dumped the full dustpan of glass into the trash. "Winnings have been a little thin." she explained as she returned to the living room and sat down beside him again.  
  
"My offer still stands." he informed her, reminding her of the fact that he had told her that he would pay for the installation and first two upgrades of her home if she liked.  
  
"I know." she nodded. "But I'm going to have to shoot you down again. I'll get to it on my own eventually." She followed this with a smile that he felt obliged to return as he settled an arm around her shoulders.   
  
"Hopefully it'll be before someone decides to start whining about it to the pet organizations." he told her, nuzzling the side of her head.   
  
"Hopefully...but we're getting off-topic here." she stated. "When did you plan on getting this visit done?"  
  
"As soon as possible." he replied. "Within the week if I can." She nodded.  
  
"Do you need me to do anything?"  
  
"No...just be here for me when I get back." he sighed, pressing a little closer to her. "I have a feeling that no matter how well this visit goes, I'm going to need some support afterward."   
  
"That I can do." she agreed, folding her arms around the techo and holding him. He made no move to return the embrace for the moment and simply relaxed against her, closing his eyes.   
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~  
  
"Sorry I can't go about giving out information like that." the fire faerie behind the desk at the Information Center said, looking at the techo as though he were an odd and disgusting bug of some kind.   
  
"I don't need the exact address." Dr. Death tried to appeal to her. "Just the land he's in right now would be fine."  
  
"No." the faerie replied firmly. "No offense, but you just don't know who's lurking out there anymore. Before you think so, you're not the first neopet to come in here playing the card of 'this person used to be my owner'. I could lose my job." He sighed deeply.  
  
"Thank you anyway." he grumbled, stuffing his hands into his pockets and walking out of the center. He'd spent nearly an hour in line shortly after getting up that morning and going directly to there from Karma's just to be blown off...feh, what a waste of time. He cast a quick look at the clock tower that stood nearby, noting that it was now six forty-five and he had fifteen minutes to get to work. For once, he was going to be on time.  
  
He walked with a casual gait, casting a look around himself at the early-morning streets of Neopia, and finding no one in the nearby vicinity who'd tell him that he couldn't, quickly dug into the breast pocket of his coat and withdrew a crushed box of cigarettes, pulling one out with his teeth and fumbling the lighter out of his back pocket. It had been days since he'd had one and the first rush of smoke as he inhaled after lighting was like an old friend. It was definitely something he could live without if he tried to strongarm himself into it, but aside from Karma and Rose voicing their displeasure in his habit, he really saw no reason he should try.  
  
He approached the pound just as the cigarette had burned down to the filter and he dropped it to the pavement, crushing it beneath the heel of his shoe before entering the establishment. For a Monday morning, he noted, things were rather quiet and there were no people hovering around outside with pets they intended to dump once the doors opened for business. Rose sat at her side of the desk, carefully stacking and sorting the small amount of forms left over from the day before and looked up as he entered.  
  
"You? On time?" the uni gasped, putting a hoof to her chest in mock dismay. "Be still, my heart."   
  
"Rope it in." the techo replied flatly.  
  
"Mm...pleasant too, as always." Rose nodded, smirking as she returned to her papers.   
  
"Well, don't get TOO used to it." he told her as he sat down next to her. "I'm taking a couple of days off next time they'll let me."   
  
"You are, huh?" she asked, quirking a brow. "What for this time?"  
  
"I'd really rather not say. And its none of your business anyway." Dr. Death told her curtly.  
  
"Is it more relationship stuff? Because, really, I think if you keep that up for much longer, the agency's going to can you..." the uni warned.  
  
"Its not relationship-related." he informed her. "Just personal."  
  
"Are you sick...?" the uni asked hesitantly.   
  
"No." the techo snorted. "Time for a subject change." Rose was silent a moment.  
  
"Is it your family...?" she tried.  
  
"Rose..."  
  
"Okay, okay, sorry." the uni said, putting up her hooves defensively. "Calm yourself."  
  
"I'm not even riled." he replied placidly, taking a pad of abandonment forms out of the desk drawer and fishing a pen out of the cup on the desktop to prepare for the incomings they were undoubtably going to recieve.  
  
".......you weren't at your house last night." Rose mentioned, smirking knowingly. The techo sighed loudly, thudding one hand to the desktop in exasperation and glaring at her. "Sorry." she giggled into her hooves. He rolled his eyes, shaking his head.   
  
"One wonders when you're going to start acting your age." he remarked.  
  
"Says the man dodging out of work every chance he gets to go play." the uni retorted, grinning. He momentarily pondered arguing with her, but decided against it. She had a point, as much as he hated to admit it. As they sat, the door swung open and a pair of blonde girls bustled in, both with large smiles.   
  
"We just joined!" one of them squealed.  
  
"Where're all the little cuties? Ooh I want to take home a baby shoyru SO bad!" the other said, looking already smitten with a pet she didn't presently own. Dr. Death and Rose exchanged a slightly uneasy look and blinked at the two humans.  
  
"Right this way, girls." Rose said, finding herself finally as she got up and led them toward the kennels. No sooner had they disappeared into the back, the door banged open again, this time revealing a less-pleasant visitor behind it. Before he even reached the desk, Glitz knew he would be abandoning the dented and broken robot blumaroo he carried in his arms.  
  
"Piece of junk." the blonde-haired human boy muttered, depositing the neopet on the counter with a dull metallic thud as if it were nothing more than a faulty toaster. Dr. Death's eyes crawled over the strange and still form of the robot blumaroo, having not seen many robot pets. For that matter, he was still hazy on where they had come from in the first place and if they should even be classified as honest-to-god neopets when they were no longer alive, but "automated".  
  
"Abandoning, I take it?" he asked. The boy nodded with a stiff shrug.   
  
"You can say that again." he grumbled. "Seven months hauling that waste of space to Mystery Island and back on a daily basis for that training school, digging in all the bushes for codestones people dropped, and for what? Nothing but embarrassment."  
  
"Mnnh..." the techo grunted in reply, grabbing up the pen and scribbling the type and species of the neopet. "Its name?" he asked.  
  
"I mean, you train for months on end and you think you're finally going to do something great in the battledome, and some jerk comes along and completely knocks you to hell in three blows with some muscle-stuffed scorchio." the boy continued, ignoring the doctor completely. "And what the hell kind of name is Fangpoint anyway??"  
  
Dr. Death's mouth suddenly felt as though it was lined with cotton as he heard the name, his mind instantly recalling Joey calling the exact same name in the battledome yesterday....to likely the same muscular scorchio.  
  
"Do you....know anything about the owner?" the techo all but squeaked.   
  
"Joey? He's a jerk. Why? He in trouble with this place?" the kid inquired.  
  
"I need to get ahold of him as soon as possible." the techo explained shakily, the abandonment form and the nearly-dismantled robot blumaroo forgotten for the moment.  
  
"Sure. He lives over on the coast of Mystery Island where all the caves are. Likes to train his pets by making'em fight all the monsters that live in'em...feh....all the battledomers talk about him sooner or later. Like he's so friggin' special. Hey be sure to tell him he's a jackass for me when you see him, wouldja?"  
  
"I.....I will...." the doctor nodded, not sure what he was agreeing to as he had only half-heard the boy.  
  
"Sweet." the boy grinned, turning and leaving, neglecting to pay the abandon fine. But that didn't really matter to Dr. Death at the moment. He picked up the robot neopet numbly from the desktop and carried it, under his arm, into the back.   
  
"---and they're very good with your furniture too. They don't claw or anything." Rose was explaining to the two girls who had come in, showing them a yellow wocky who purred enticingly and rubbed against their ankles. In a better frame of mind, the doctor would have sharply reminded her that she was not to remove pets from their kennels without a leash in case they attempted to escape. However, he paid the trio little to no mind at all as he sauntered past, selecting an empty kennel and unceremoniously depositing the robot inside of it, closing the door and locking it.   
  
"Aww, he's so cute! I'll take him!" one of the blondes gushed, leaning down and picking the wocky up. The neopet gratefully nuzzled into her arms, giving her a large and happy smile. Rose smiled at the girls half-heartedly as the two of them fauned over the little wocky before turning to look at Dr. Death as he walked past.   
  
"You alright?" she asked, noting the ashen tone of his face suddenly.  
  
"I'm alright." he told her as he moved, not sounding at all convincing. Before Rose had a chance to question him further, he had closed the door and was safely back up front again. To his relief, no one had shown up to wait at the desk and he found himself completely alone for the moment. Not hesitating, he approached his side of the desk and threw open the bottom drawer, pulling out the directory listing and thumbing through the pages until he found the ferry station and dialed them up.   
  
After a brief period on hold and negotiating travel times with an agent, he hung up again, his ferry tickets to Mystery Island reserved for Wednesday. That would give him tomorrow to get in touch with the Employment Agency and inform them he would be gone for a day. Possibly more, he wasn't sure. He didn't suppose Joey's dwelling would be right within plain view and could foresee himself having to search for it for a day or two.  
  
He leaned back in his chair, staring into space and trying to convince himself that the wheels really HAD been set in motion. Tonight he would pack a suitcase and would get little sleep as he laid awake for hours, playing out two versions of his confrontation with his old owner...the one he wanted in which he and Joey both laid the cards out on the table and handled things with some degree of maturity, and the one he feared in which Joey became angry for finding him and attacked him with his battlepets.  
  
No matter what the outcome, though, he promised himself that after all of this, he would lay this unclosed chapter of his life to rest.  
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~  
  
"You sure you're getting off here, buddy??" the ferryman, a blue kacheek, shouted over the loud sigh of the surf against the rocks.   
  
"This is fine!" Dr. Death called back, bracing himself as the ferry rocked a bit.  
  
"I dunno, those currents are pretty nasty! Don't expect me to dive in after ya if ya slip!"  
  
"I won't!" he replied, though without much conviction as he eyed the wet rocks with uncertainty. What if he DID slip? He bit his lip, holding the bag he had packed in a white knuckled grip as he swung a leg over the side of the listing ferryboat and stepped awkwardly out onto one of the jutting rocks on the beach's shore. For one horrible moment, he nearly lost his purchase and then righted himself.   
  
Breathing a sigh of relief, the techo carefully picked his way down from the rocks to the sand, the ferryman watching him intently until he was safely on the ground before putting the boat's motor in reverse and kicking up a coil of white foam as he puttered away from the shore. Glitz watched the boat disappear over the rolling green waves until it was no longer visible before turning his attention back to the matter at hand.  
  
He was surrounded by a stretch, riddled with large boulders and, in the distance, large black hulks of crude sandstone mountains that were so full of holes and caves, they'd be better classified as "swiss cheese" than mountains at all. The air smelt stale....it wasn't the inviting odor of salt water and sunshine that most beaches had. This reminded him of sweat and the ghosts of dead fish that had washed up from the water to bloat in the sun.  
  
There honestly seemed to be no sign of civilization anywhere and it occurred to the doctor that bringing a suitcase was probably not a good idea and a backpack would have been a much better option. Even as he stood pondering this, something tugged at his pantleg and he looked down, startled. An enormous crab had sidled out from beneath a rock and was now busily examining the intruder with its large claws. The techo gave an involuntary cry of revolt and stepped backward, his voice scaring the crab back into hiding.  
  
"Just as scared of me as I was of it..." he assured himself. "Nothing's out to get you here, for chrissake....its just a beach."   
  
"Didn't the kid at the pound say Joey keeps his pets here to fight cave monsters?" his mind inquired mockingly, setting his nerves on edge even further. Yes, the boy at the pound HAD said something to that effect. And if there were monsters here, he was most certainly in no situation to deal with them with no weapons and even less fighting technique....not in the light and even less in the dark.  
  
Dark. How long was it going to be until night fell, he wondered? He guessed it was only two in the afternoon or so...he had left Neopia Central at noon and it had tacked an extra hour or so onto his journey to be boated nearly three-quarters of the way around Mystery Island from where the ferries usually docked and the jungle gave way to the long stretch of beach he found himself on currently.  
  
Well, standing there and fretting about things he couldn't see or confirm even existed certainly wasn't helping matters. He laid his suitcase down, popping the latch and examining the contents. He'd not packed much....a change of clothes, a toothbrush, a book, and a bottle of aspirin, but even in traveling light, the case itself was large and awkward and if the need arose to run, it would impair him severely. At length, he settled on the bottle of aspirin and the book, deciding clean teeth and pristine clothes could slide for the little time he'd be here. Fastening the case again, he leaned it against a boulder and began to walk.  
  
Instinct told Dr. Death that he would find what he was looking for near the mountains of holey sandstone up ahead and so he headed in that direction, ready to turn back at the first sign of trouble. In the distance, a bird of some sort let up a long whooping cry, adding to the alien quality of the beach. It was not at all like the rest of Mystery Island that was covered in lush jungles and bustling with natives. This all seemed...detached somehow. Uncivilized. Unhealthy.  
  
As though to accentuate his feelings, something large stirred in a spindly tangle of Elppa bushes to his left, making him freeze in his tracks and stare. As he watched, a round crimson fellow with an elongated point for a head emerged from the grass. In all appearance, it looked like an enormous spirkle and chittered at him in a language he didn't understand, appearing to make rude gestures with its tiny legs.   
  
As he watched the spectacle, puzzled, he was unaware as something larger slithered up behind him. The red creature, apparently pleased in distracting the techo long enough to be trapped, concluded its odd tirade with a half-hearted backflip into the air, a final squeal, and then it was gone again into the grass. No sooner had the notion crossed Dr. Death's mind to keep walking something hissed dryly behind him.   
  
If he'd had hackles, the yellow techo was sure, they'd all have stood perfectly on end at that sound as he turned, not wanting to see but realizing he had to, and found himself staring directly into the dilated eyes of unquestionably the largest snake he had ever seen. Its forked tongue slid out of its pursed mouth idly flickering on the air for a split second before disappearing back into its maw again. It was black in color with evergreen-colored bands down its body and it stood nearly a head taller than he was.  
  
Dr. Death, until that moment, didn't realize it was possible to literally feel the color draining from his face as he found that all of his muscles had locked firmly, stuck somewhere between "fight" and "flight".   
  
"Its a wadjet" he thought to himself as the large snake dipped its head to the side, flickering its tongue again in an expectant manner, as though satisfied that its prey had been properly terrified and immobilized. "Its a wadjet, but damn, its HUGE!" The enormous black serpent began to slowly and lazily wind its body around him, entrapping him in its thick coils and preparing to squeeze the life out of him once it was finished.   
  
The red imp that had jumped from the grass earlier watched from nearby with interest glowing in its beady eyes. By nature, imps were scavengers and it knew that whatever the wadjet found inedible would immediately become its dinner.   
  
ZING!!  
  
A white blur shot past the wadjet's head missing narrowly and attracting the large snake's attention. As it swung its diamond-shaped head after whatever had whizzed past, another missile flew forward, striking the snake squarely in the back of its skull. With a cheated hiss, the wadjet loosened its grip on Dr. Death as it sought its assailant. The techo blinked, shaking himself out of his shock-induced stupor as he realized, first, where he was and second, that he was in danger.  
  
THOCK!  
  
The wadjet wailed in pain, rearing as another rock struck it on the pearly ridge of scales just above its eye. The yellow techo wriggled, attempting to slide out of the serpent's hold on him, and realized that he couldn't. "Still too strong...." he thought distantly and with absurd astonishment. "Still too strong, I can't---"   
  
And suddenly there was a sensation of being pulled, accompanied by an annoyed voice. "Come ON!! Do you wanna live or what, Mister??" And he realized that he did. Very much so. With a few frantic kicks, accompanied by whomever was pulling on him, he slipped free of the wadjet's coils, tumbling to the sand in a heap. His teeth clicked together on his tongue, drawing the faint coppery taste of blood as he half-crawled, half-scrambled away from the wadjet and out of reach.  
  
The snake attempted to strike at him, fangs bared, but it was not at a good angle and nor did it have the proper thrust behind it. The wadjet sailed to his left, missing him by nearly an entire three feet and leaving a near-perfect streak in the sand behind itself. Glitz drew himself into a crouch, almost certain it would turn and try again, but to his surprise (and relief) it did not. The wadjet shot him a still-predatory but decidedly more casual glare, flickered its tongue out of its mouth once more, and then slithered off in the direction of a spindly gathering of bushes, disappearing with oily quickness.  
  
"Geez....you okay?" the same voice that had yelled at him earlier asked, sounding winded. Dr. Death looked beside himself to see a small red kougra crouched in the sand, panting thickly and looking thoroughly frazzled.  
  
"Yeah....yeah I'm fine." he assured the tiger neopet.  
  
"You're lucky I was hunting out this way, Mister. Prey's kinda slim and those monsters'll eat anything." he looked the yellow techo over critically and chuffed with laughter. "Boy, he almost had YOU for a sandwich...."  
  
"I told you I'm fine." Dr. Death replied indignantly. "And aren't you a little young to be out wandering by yourself?" The young kougra reminded him, in many ways, of Candy with the same look of impish amusement that only children seemed to be able to possess.  
  
"Heh....I'm fine on my own. I look out for myself better than some grown-ups I know of..." he added. Glitz was about to argue when the kougra interrupted. "But yeah, I've got an owner and all, if that's what you mean. And he knows I'm out here. He sent me here actually."  
  
"With all these monsters?" the techo asked disbelievingly.  
  
"Sure! How else am I supposed to get stronger unless I battle? That's how my ancestors did it and all....there weren't any training schools and codestones back then and I've never taken the easy way once." The tiger neopet puffed his chest out proudly. "Besides, most of the monsters out here are stupid. You find their weak spot and its all over. They fall over like a sack of dung." He paused, sniffing the air. "Anyway, nice meeting ya. You should be more careful." He said off-handedly and turned to prowl toward the beginning of some dense undergrowth nearby where the beach ended and a spindly psuedo-jungle began.  
  
"Where are you going?" Dr. Death asked, mildly curious.  
  
"Huh? Oh...I gotta find and fight at least twenty more monsters before I get dinner. Its my quota."  
  
"Your quota..." the techo repeated.  
  
"Sure. My owner assigns me and my brothers a number of wins we have to get before dark and if we don't meet it, we're not allowed to have dinner." the kougra smirked.  
  
"That's harsh, don't you think?"  
  
"Nah not really. I usually just sneak over to the Tombola on the other side of the island or something if he doesn't feed me. He just does it to make us work harder, not to be mean." The kougra's tail twitched as his keen eyes caught movement in the grass. "You're gonna have to excuse me now, Mister." he added quickly, crouching and preparing to pounce on whatever it was.  
  
Ordinarily, Glitz would have let it go there, but instead, he heard himself speak again. "Your owner's name happen to be Joey?" The kougra, his concentration broken, looked sharply over his shoulder, though he didn't appear to be angry.  
  
"Yeah....but, how'd you know?" he asked.  
  
"I need you to take me to him, if you can..." the techo told him. "Its pretty important that I see him." The kougra regarded him thoughtfully before shaking his head with a skeptical look.  
  
"Nah, I can't do that." the cub said decisively.  
  
"Why not?"  
  
"Cuz he doesn't like fans."  
  
"I'm not a fan." Dr. Death replied, growing quickly annoyed.   
  
"Well then, his team's full. He doesn't want to take on any more pets."   
  
"I'm not one of those either. I...." he trailed off, wondering how much he ought to tell the kougra. "I used to be one of his pets and I just need to talk a few things over with him."  
  
"Hmm...gotta hand it to ya, that's a new excuse. You some kind of scammer?" the kougra asked suspiciously.  
  
"No, but I *AM* bitter, if it helps." he replied, snarling a bit. There was a long moment of silence as the two regarded one another.  
  
"Hmmmm...." the kougra muttered, narrowing his eyes in thought. "Alright, you win. But I gotta warn ya if you're thinking of pulling anything that Fangpoint and Scorchruff are pretty protective of our master, and pretty strong to boot. Follow me." he stated, padding off casually into the overgrowth.  
  
Dr. Death hesitated only a moment before following after him, certain that if he lost sight of the young kougra, that he'd end up lost for days.   
  
"What's your name, mister?" the kougra asked casually as they moved.  
  
"Glitz." he answered reflexively.  
  
"Glitz....heh....sounds like a girl's name." the kougra snickered. To this, the doctor said nothing, though it was sorely tempting to inform the young tiger that the same man that had bestowed such intimidating titles as Fangpoint and Scorchruff had, once upon a time, also given him HIS name. "I'm Bloodcloak"  
  
"Charming...." Dr. Death sighed, his stomach turning a sour flip at the kougra's name.  
  
"Yeah. Its mainly cuz of my coloring, but I kinda hope when I get older, it'll mean more than that." he grinned, purposely showing off his maw of fangs. "Anyway, its not far from here...just through those trees up there and then around the back of the big mess of boulders. Joey said he had to get a special permit to build his neohome all the way out here away from everybody. I heard a couple people say he had to fight the real estate agency and the property contractors and---"   
  
As Bloodcloak trit-trotted off into a tangent about the trials Joey had gone through to be able to isolate himself from the rest of Neopia, the techo slipped into troubled thought again. For the umpteenth time, he tried to convince himself that coming all the way out here had not been a bad idea, and it seemed to be growing harder and harder with each attempt. He had, sadly enough, begun to hope that Joey would simply refuse to see him. At least then he could go back and tell everybody he'd tried. And maybe, over time, he could convince himself of the same thing.  
  
"Glitz? HEY!!"   
  
"Huh?" the doctor muttered, shaking himself back to reality.  
  
"Stop spacing out. We're almost there." Bloodcloak chided impatiently. "Ya looked like a zombie just now."   
  
"Sorry, I'm just thinking, I guess."  
  
"Hopefully not about ways to run off with any of Joey's neopoints. I'd cream you myself if you tried."   
  
"Look, I already told you I'm not a scammer." the techo groaned.  
  
"Sure sure, that's what they all say." the kougra sighed. "Guess we'll see. Joey's house is right there, by the way." he added, pointing at a modest two-level white house that was half visible from behind an uneven clump of windsmoothed rocks as they exited the undergrowth, finding themselves on the crest of a gentle grassy slope.  
  
"That's it?" Dr. Death asked disbelievingly.  
  
"What do you mean, 'that's it'??" Bloodcloak snapped. "That's a nice home, you dork!"  
  
"No....no offense meant." he said quickly. "I just....I had expected...." he fished for the words he was looking for.  
  
"Lemme guess, big mansion with an elaborate garden and servants scuttling around training the other pets?" the kougra cub sighed, rolling his eyes. "That's what everybody expects. We don't need that junk...mansions are for rich and lazy snobs." He finished his statement with a decisive nod of his head and then broke into a trot. "C'mon! I'll race ya!"  
  
Dr. Death watched the kougra run for a few paces and followed after him, keeping his pace at a sedate walk. He felt no desire to hurry things along any quicker than they absolutely needed to be. He reached the house's front walkway a few moments later, Bloodcloak already sitting on the porch, having caught most of his breath already.  
  
"Wuss!" he jeered good-naturedly, poking a pink tongue out at the techo. Glitz's focus, however, was not on the red kougra cub. It was, instead, on the familiar human standing in the front doorway of the neohome, regarding him with thoughtful silence. The techo froze, much like he had when he had encountered the wadjet, unsure of what to say or do. At length, Joey made the first move.   
  
"My cub there says you need to talk to me?" he said calmly. The yellow techo drew in a shaky breath, looking at the ground, and nodded once.   
  
"This important?" Joey asked.   
  
Glitz nodded again.  
  
"Mm...." he muttered before moving aside. "Alright, come on in then and let's get it done." The yellow techo hesitated, gathering himself again, before slowly moving forward and walking past Joey into the house....  
  
  
TBC... 


	16. In like a lion, out like a lamb

AUTHOR'S NOTE -- Here. Christmas came early. The story is now done. No sequels, no future installments, FINISHED. If you don't like the ending, then I'm sorry. I am quite literally out of steam and out of patience with this behemoth. *slams the book closed on Karma and Dr. D* x_x I'm free!! AHAHAHAHAHA!!! MY ONLINE LIFE IS MINE ONCE AGAIN!!! NO MORE NAGGING LETTERS ABOUT FINISHING!!!!! XD  
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"First of all, am I in trouble or anything?" the human asked as he followed Glitz inside, closing the door firmly behind himself.  
  
"No." the techo said quietly, feeling very awkward as his eyes wandered over the interior of Joey's neohome. The furnishings were modest, mostly made of bamboo and coconuts, but it seemed to be a comfortable dwelling.   
  
"Alright then." he nodded, seeming to relax a little. "Then my next question is, are you here to beg from me?"  
  
"No." Dr. Death said again, crossing his arms over his chest.   
  
"Then what do you want?"   
  
"I--" he paused, trying to think of where he should begin. "Do you remember when you owned a techo?" he asked at last, deciding this was a safe enough start.  
  
"I've owned a lot of techos. I've owned a lot of neopets in general, actually. I used to rotate fighters once a month." Joey explained, brushing past him as he crossed the room and seated himself in one of the bamboo chairs. From the living room, Dr. Death noted that he was being watched very closely by two pairs of ruddy yellow eyes....one belonging to the familiar hulking scorchio frame of Fangpoint and the other affixed into the skull of a rather mean-looking fire lupe. This was Scorchruff, he was guessing.   
  
"Were you going somewhere with this?" Joey sighed impatiently. "I have a schedule to keep." The techo began to wring his hands and looked down.  
  
"I don't look familiar to you at all, do I....?" he said quietly, hurt in his voice.  
  
"Should you?" the human asked, sounding mildly confused. The blankness in his question angered Glitz hugely as he clenched his fists at his sides and felt his apprehension melting away into rage.  
  
"Think back a little, if you even can." the yellow techo said through gritted teeth. "Remember your first pet?"  
  
"Sure. It was a Jetsam." Joey replied casually. "But what---"  
  
"It WASN'T a Jetsam!" Dr. Death cried angrily, cutting him off. "You dropped ME for that fish! Can't you even keep *that* straight, Joey??" There was an immediate look of angry reproach in the human's eyes at the outburst, followed quickly by shocked understanding.   
  
"Glitz...." he whispered. "Oh...god, you look different." he said at last, looking over the techo's taller and clothing-clad form, the lines of age in his face, and the mop of hair on his head. "I didn't even know you were still around...."  
  
"Thanks a lot." the techo replied coldly, aware that hot angry tears were puddling in his eyes as he impatiently wiped them away.   
  
"But why'd you come here?" Joey asked, still recovering from the loop he'd been thrown for. "I mean, I thought we parted ways a long time ago. Why didn't you just move on like I did?"  
  
"I tried, god damn you...." he hissed. "And you know something? It all keeps coming back to the fact that you dumped me first!" His anger, much to his surprise, was a lot more deeply-rooted than he had first thought it would be. Even if he wanted to, he didn't think he could stop as years of unvented outrage tried to escape all at once.  
  
"Look, calm yourself..." Joey began. "I guess you've got a right to be mad at me but--"  
  
"My life has been a hell because of you!!" he yelled. "Every goddamned time I try to move on and get over what I was put through when I was still a pet, SOMEHOW everything keeps coming back to you!"  
  
"Then that's your problem." Joey replied firmly, narrowing his eyes. "If you can't let go of something as stupid as being impounded and get on with it, that's *your* malfunction. Stop yelling in my house."  
  
"Have you ever been in the pound except to scrounge around for new meatpuppets, Joey? Have you??" he asked, quieting himself down a bit, though his voice was still tight and loud.   
  
"Don't start with me, alright? I know its not the best place, but pets get dropped there all the time and they all find new owners eventually and they all turn out fine. You still have no excuse as far as that goes." the boy said reasonably.  
  
"First of all, don't act like you know more about the pound than I do." the techo told him in a low and dangerous voice. "I've spent my entire life there.....first as a homeless pet that nobody wanted, and now I work there. I've worked there for years....and I've seen PLENTY of pets never even get a second look from the people who come in. So don't you tell me that they all find new owners eventually, you ignorant bastard."  
  
"That's ENOUGH!" Joey bellowed suddenly. In a flurry of motion, Fangpoint and Scorchruff were suddenly between their master and Dr. Death, snarling menacingly. "Who the hell do you think you are?" Joey demanded to know from behind the protective cover of his neopets.  
  
"Who the hell do you think *YOU* are??" the techo retorted, trembling with anger. "You think you can just grab up and toss away neopets like toys? What ever happened to that Jetsam anyway? Did you drop him on his ass too as soon as you found something better??"  
  
"Look, I don't have to listen to this! I've worked hard to get where I am!" Joey snapped.  
  
"And how many lives did you ruin to do it??" Dr. Death demanded. "Where is he, Joey? WHERE??" It had gone beyond a verbal taunt, really, and the techo had a sudden burning desire to know just where the green jetsam that had taken his place years ago was now.  
  
"I don't have him anymore, and I've had enough of you." the human snarled. "Fangpoint, take him outside and deal with him."  
  
"Deal with me yourself!" Glitz snarled. "This has nothing to do with your pets! This--" he was cut off sharply as the scorchio lunged forward, seizing him around the waist and hefting him easily over one shoulder, carrying him toward the front door. Dr. Death struggled for a moment and then resigned himself, glaring daggers at his former owner as he was transported outside.   
  
Joey watched with flustered satisfaction and then moved quietly to the front window to watch the fight. He was already quite certain of the outcome, but it would satisfy him to watch it anyway. He hadn't even thought of Glitz in years...and the techo, in his opinion, was quite out-of-place appearing again out of nowhere and accusing him of so many things. "Ruining lives", feh! You had to break a few eggs to make an omelette. It wasn't his fault that the techo had turned out badly, he told himself.  
  
Outside, Dr. Death found himself thrown to the dirt sharply as pain bloomed in his shoulder.  
  
"Oops." Fangpoint sneered, lumbering after him. "Must've lost my grip." For a moment, the doctor simply laid there in resignation, not seeing any reason he ought to humor the neopet with a fight. He'd get beaten, he'd turn tail and run home, and he'd not speak of today. Ever. As the scorchio loomed over him, however, drawing back one foot to kick him, the techo's hand turned traitor on him, snatching up a handful of dead leaves and grit and flinging it into Fangpoint's face.  
  
"AUGH!" the scorchio cried, scrambling backward, and pawing at his eyes wildly. "You dirtyfighter! Friggin' dirtyfighter!" he wailed, his eyeballs burning as the granules of sand brushed against them, involuntary tears streaming down his face. It occurred to Glitz that he had only temporarily disabled the scorchio and when he recovered, he would be very angry. With that anger would come the need to hurt the techo very badly and, whether he liked it or not, he was now in this fight.   
  
And as long as he was in it, he thought, he may as well be IN it.  
  
He lunged forward in a full-body tackle, colliding with the tought muscles of Fangpoint's abdomen. The scorchio, had he seen the attack and been expecting it, would have easily deflected him, but being temporarily blind, he found himself at a disadvantage and sat down hard, his breath knocked from him with a loud "WHUFF!"  
  
The two grappled for a few moments, the scorchio's wings battering Glitz's face and his talon-like claws raking shallow bloody digs in his flesh. And then, with a cheated and angry hiss, Fangpoint's massive paws closed around Dr. Death's throat and began to squeeze. The techo struggled, attempting to draw breath and failing. Black spots began to swirl in front of his eyes as the scorchio squeezed harder, seeming to still be deciding whether he wanted to simply choke Glitz or break his neck.  
  
Dr. Death's mind became hazed in darkness, but not before it conjured up a memory. The memory of being on the phone and trying to reclaim his job....and of becoming angry and crushing the reciever in his hand with startling ease. He had an unnatural strength of some sort...a strength given to him by whatever tampering Sloth had done to him and Karma when they had been held captive. At least...he hoped he did.  
  
In a somewhat sluggish movement, he bent his legs to his chest and ducked them between him and Fangpoint, bracing them on the scorchio's belly. And then, his want to survive and anger aiding him, he gave a tremendous shove with both feet. With a surprised grunt, Fangpoint toppled over backward and skidded a few feet away, blinking in muddled surprise. THAT wasn't supposed to have happened...the techo was scarcely half his size.  
  
And then Glitz was up again, legs splayed and ducked close to the ground. The techo's tail came around in a whiplash, striking Fangpoint sharply in the chin. The scorchio momentarily saw a burst of red stars as his fangs drove into the tender flesh of his gums, creating a stinging pain in his mouth and no sooner had begun to cry out than the techo's tail struck him again, snapping him neatly and quickly between the haunches, bringing a new and even more excruciating type of pain.   
  
Fangpoint's eyes crossed and his breath caught in his throat as all of the fight promptly went out of him and he slowly rolled onto his side, doubled over and whining thinly. Dr. Death watched him closely, eyes narrowed and ready to retaliate if the scorchio's submission was just a ploy. When it became evident that Fangpoint's defeat was for real, the techo allowed himself to relax, the fire that had ignited in him briefly now leaving him as he crumpled to his knees and gave a long shuddering sigh of both relief and disbelief that he had come out the victor.  
  
As the adrenaline drained from his veins and he was overcome by an urge to rest, the door of Joey's home exploded open, revealing a very angry Scorchruff, bristling and foaming at the lips at the techo. "Send me in, Joey!" he commanded, trembling with rage. "Dammit, send me in!!"  
  
"Scorchruff, calm yourself." the human boy sighed, appearing a moment later behind the raging fire lupe and patting his head in idle distraction and clearly dumbfounded at the defeat of his battlepet.   
  
"Send me in!" Scorchruff demanded again, becoming unnerved that his request to fight Glitz was being ignored.  
  
"No." Joey replied firmly, making the lupe give a snort of utter surprise as he ventured past him, off of the porch and toward the panting and wounded techo. For a very long moment, the two simply regarded one another in silence. "You know....the last time I looked down at you like this, you were a lot smaller..." Joey began.  
  
"Uh huh..." Dr. Death grunted as he rubbed at his bruised throat where Fangpoint had choked him a few moments ago, no longer having the strength to feel anything but irritation. The power needed to fly into another rage at his former owner had fled.  
  
"Heh. We used to make daily trips to the Healing Springs with you....remember that?" the boy smirked, attempting to lighten the mood. The techo simply lowered his eyes and said nothing. "I always said that sooner or later we'd make a battler out of you.....I guess I stopped believing that after awhile."  
  
"I guess." Glitz muttered sullenly.  
  
"Glitz..." he said in a voice that was almost gentle. "I put you in the pound, but that doesn't mean I didn't care about you, you know."   
  
"You have a funny way of showing it...." he sighed, his balance threatening to give out. There was another silence between them.   
  
"Come inside. I've got some healing potions for you. I can do that much at least." he said gently, crouching and grabbing one of the techo's arms, draping it around his shoulders and standing, taking Dr. Death with him as he did. As much of a relief as it was to Glitz to not be fighting with Joey anymore, he wasn't sure he liked the sudden calming of the waters either as he was led back into the house, past the snarling Scorchruff, Fangpoint momentarily forgotten.   
Joey brought him into the kitchen and seated him at the table before opening the fridge and taking out several small bottles full of puce-colored liquid.   
  
"I keep the potions in the fridge so they stay fresh." he explained to no one in particular. "I dunno what the water faerie's been putting in them lately, but you leave it out on the counter overnight and it starts to smell like rotten eggs." He offered a smile and set the bottles down in front of Dr. Death. "Don't worry, the corks come out easy." he added. The techo gave him an uncertain look before picking one up, plucking the cork out of its mouth, and slowly drinking the contents. It reminded him of cranberry juice and he found, after having it, that he DID feel better. The bloody scrapes on his arms from Fangpoint's talons had begun to close and heal over, leaving no trace of scar tissue in their wake.   
  
By the time he had finished drinking the third potion, he was perfectly fine again with no evidence of his previous scuffle with Fangpoint. That solved, he looked awkwardly across the table at his former owner.   
  
"....what?" he asked at least, feeling self-conscious.  
  
"How'd you get so strong? I mean, I've seen huge neopets not be able to budge Fangpoint in the ring and you shoved him like a sack of potatoes." Joey complimented.  
  
"Oh..." he muttered, rubbing at his forearm and looking down at the tabletop. "....that's not important...." He really didn't feel like delving into the ray incident again.....especially not with Joey of all people. He was more docile now, but he was still angry at the young man. VERY angry.  
  
"No, I guess its not." Joey agreed. "You've really changed, haven't you?"  
  
"Yeah...guess I have." Dr. Death sighed, folding his arms on the table and laying his head upon them. He wished he was back home suddenly....he really wanted to take a nap. He might, actually, have fallen asleep right there at the table if Joey's next words hadn't jolted him fully awake again.  
  
"Maybe I made a mistake throwing you away, Glitz....and maybe this is fate. Maybe we're meant to be together. I mean, how many people have their first neopet come back to them after all this time?" the human grinned. "What do you think? I've got room for you..."   
  
Truthfully, the doctor didn't know what to think. His first impulse -- that crying abandoned neopet inside of himself that still pined for its owner -- wanted to seize the opportunity. Just throw the past years away and start again......  
  
But it was the second impulse he listened to -- the part of him that had learned much from a life of being hurt and scorned constantly. It was this impulse that reminded him of what was waiting for him back home and the handful of people he had allowed to get close to him and who had come to care for him deeply.   
  
It was also this impulse that stripped the sugar-coating from Joey's offer and showed him that there was no love in it. Joey hadn't missed his companionship at all and had been set to see him torn to ribbons only moments ago. The only thing that appealed to the boy now was his drastic increase in strength. "He wants to make me like them..." he thought, his eyes darting to the side to look at Scorchruff sitting on the porch, eclipsing the front doorway and curling his lips. "He wants me to be a battle-hungry zombie like they are...."  
  
"Still with me, Glitz?" Joey asked.  
  
"I'm with you." he sighed. "And I'm going to have to say no." The human's smile slipped a few notches.  
  
"Why?" he asked. "We'd be great together! I mean, with your new strength, we--"  
  
"That's all you want, isn't it?" the techo interrupted, unable to look at Joey. "Just to make me another notch in your belt like those three poor idiots you've got slaving for you now...."  
  
"That's not--"  
  
"And that's how it is, isn't it? If your pets can't fetch you glory of some sort, then they're not worth having." he continued, narrowing his eyes. Joey eyed him sternly.  
  
"Look, I'm trying to make peace here, Glitz, and I don't want another fight." he stated firmly.  
  
"There won't be another fight, Joey." the techo said matter-of-factly as he stood up from the table. "Because I'm leaving....and I think this time, I'll stay gone. I've got too much to worry about back home to let what you've done to me haunt me every day anymore. I don't know what I was thinking coming here. It didn't solve a damn thing."  
  
"Look, that's why I'm offering to take you back." Joey reasoned. "If we start over again, none of this would even matter."  
  
"You'd like that, wouldn't you?" Dr. Death sneered, turning his back on the human and heading for the door, speaking over his shoulder. "You know something, Joey, neopets are known for their loyalty. Its kind of ingrained in us to stay with our owners at all costs and look to them for shelter and protection and love. But there's some owners who take advantage of that loyalty to the point where its sickening." he paused, his hand on the front door's knob as he shot a final and accusing look at his former owner. "And I feel very sorry for any pet that relies on you for anything."  
  
And as he slammed the front door closed behind himself, somewhere in his head a chapter of his life that had been left hanging unfinished for years, wrote its final words and closed itself forever, never to be opened again. He decided, once and for all, that he was done with Joey and brooding over "what-if's". Life hadn't dealt him an incredibly good hand, but it certainly could have dealt him much worse....and it was time to stop obsessing over what could have been and start to sort out what was.  
  
Nearby him on the porch, Scorchruff bared his fangs, his hackles bristling menacingly at the techo. "Get out of here...." the lupe rumbled. "And don't ever come back either. You're not welcome here."  
  
"There's nothing that would make me WANT to be welcomed here." Dr. Death shot back. It felt good to say, namely because he knew that he meant it now and was not trying to mask any underlying hurt. Not giving Scorchruff a chance to reply, he turned sharply and began to walk back in the direction he had come, noting briefly that Fangpoint was still KO'ed in the dust and not caring. Maybe the three pets would realize one day, as he finally had, that their "owner" was only as important as they let him be...and if they were to all walk out on him, he'd be a faceless nothing in the thousands of neopian citizens again.  
  
"Woah, you're leaving already?" a familiar voice called when he had left the house well behind himself and was nearing the small jungle that led back to the beach. Glitz looked up to see Bloodcloak poised over the dormant body of an imp that he had just conquered in battle.  
  
"Apparently, we had nothing to discuss." he told the young kougra.  
  
"Did he kick you out?" the tiger neopet smirked knowingly.  
  
"No. Actually, I think it was the other way around....and I can't say I minded much." he corrected, never pausing in his gait.  
  
"Hey wait up!" Bloodcloak called, abandoning his imp to walk with the techo. "So what's this beef you've got with my owner?"  
  
"Its none of your business." he replied curtly. "But if you plan on sticking with him, you'll probably find out for yourself soon enough."  
  
"Hey, don't knock on Joey, alright?" the kougra said, his voice devoid of its normal good nature and sounding utterly serious. "I mean, just because you butted heads with him once doesn't mean he's going to do that to everybody. Joey's my friend and he loves me. He'd never give me up for anything."   
  
"Yeah...." the doctor sighed uncommittedly, deciding it was for the best not to argue though he was fairly sure that he knew better. "See you around, kid."   
  
"Probably not." the kougra muttered.  
  
"Probably for the best." Glitz nodded and began to pick his way back through the small jungle toward the beach.   
  
There, he would climb atop one of the boulders and wait for the evening to come and one of Mystery Island's shoreline patrol team to come by in a motorboat and notice him. After a hasty explanation of why he was there, he would return home that night quietly. He'd not return to work, but spend the remaining two days he had taken off as sick time in bed, recovering from everything, assuring himself it really was finally over, and having the soundest sleep he'd had in years with no nightmares or jolting awake in the middle of the night feeling cold and alone.  
  
The "curse", so to speak was finally lifted....and his life was his once more.  
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~  
  
  
EPILOGUE  
  
  
"Are you sure this is everything?" Glitz asked, carrying in one last box and setting it down, arching his back to pop it.   
  
"Should be." Karma smiled awkwardly. "We didn't have much to start with, remember."  
  
"I remember." he nodded. "Like I said before, I don't know how you managed in that apartment for so long."  
  
"The question is, are you going to be able to handle living under the same roof as the hellions I'm about to bring in?" the frog asked. The two of them, lately, had been discussing her living situation a lot more heavily than normal. Her apartment simply wasn't big enough for herself and her pets and yet she hotly denied his offers to pay the first installment on having a neohome built. She assured him that she could afford to do it herself, but was waiting until she could also afford having it built out of decent materials.  
  
Eventually, a compromise had been made and an inarguably big step had been taken. Karma had given over her neopoints to Dr. Death and he had used them to add four rooms and a hallway onto his own home and they were now merging both households into one, despite the raised eyebrows and clucking tongues of those who had somehow found out about it.   
  
The techo recalled with some amusement, the elderly poogle woman who had been hobbling past as he and Karma had been carrying boxes inside, noticed their lack of wedding bands and had shaken her head and announced that it was "simply disgraceful".   
  
"I should be able to handle them...or at least get used to them." he nodded. "When did Rose say she was going to bring them by?"  
  
"In..." Karma paused to look at her watch. "...an hour or so. So we can at least *start* unpacking..." She paused, biting her lip.  
  
"Something wrong?" the doctor inquired, putting a hand on her shoulder.  
  
"No...just....heh, wondering if we're doing the right thing is all." she shrugged.  
  
"Does it feel right to you?" he asked, quirking a brow. She smiled slowly.  
  
"It does." she nodded.   
  
"Then don't worry about it." he told her gently, returning her smile. "Let's worry about something that might turn into a problem....like whether Candy's still in her phase of trying to recreate modern art on the walls with crayons."  
  
"No, she stopped that after Yahoo and I threatened to coat her in chocolate and sell her as a gourmet food." the frog admitted, laughing lightly and then resting her head on his chest. For a moment both were quiet.  
  
"This is going to work." he told her, sounding confident in this decision as he gently ran a hand through her brown hair.   
  
"Think so?" she murmured.  
  
"I do." he nodded firmly.  
  
"Even if my pets won't be satisfied till they've driven you crazy?" she pressed playfully.  
  
"After all I've been through, they're going to find out I'm a hard nut to crack." he assured her, affectionately nuzzling her forehead as he drew her close.   
  
"I guess the question is, where do we go from here?" Karma whispered.  
  
"Where would you *like* to go?" he asked, touching noses with her. Her eyes glistened as she leaned in further.  
  
"At the immediate moment, I kind of like where I am..." she said.  
  
"Then let's stay there awhile." he smiled, closing the last of the distance between them and kissing her softly.  
------------------------------------------------------------------------  
  
THE (friggin') END *faint* 


End file.
